Peace Prayers

O Loving God,

We so often, and for so long, hear the guns and rockets, drones and bombs and we see the pictures of death.

Wrap all and each of these your people in your love.
Let them hear: “Come to me you who suffer and are burdened and I will give you rest.”

In the last few months, we have heard the weapons and seen the blood of mass shootings and gang violence…in many of the cities, towns and villages across our nation.

 Wrap all and each of these your people in your love. Let them hear: “Come to me you who suffer and are burdened and I will give you rest.”

The bombs are exploding again in war zones around the world.

 Wrap all and each of these your people in your love. Let them hear: “Come to me you who suffer and are burdened and I will give you rest.”

Violence continues hidden in so many homes and families around the world – and the abuse of innocent children….

 Wrap all and each of these your people in your love. Let them hear: “Come to me you who suffer and are burdened and I will give you rest.”

In so many parts of the world today, the air is tense
 with waiting, uncertainty, insecurity. From ravaged lands, destroyed by war, Your people lift their hands to you. We pray for stillness, for justice, and for peace to come and to last.
 We fear that they will not.

 Wrap all and each of these your people in your love. Let them hear: “Come to me you who suffer and are burdened and I will give you rest.”

O God, our maker, God of Abraham and Sarah, from which three great religions stemmed.
We pray for peace. We pray for peaceful existence between Israelis and Palestinians, Sunnis and Shiites, Muslims, Jews and Christians. We pray negotiations which can reach the roots of historical conflicts. We pray for a commitment to human rights by all sides and the protection of all lives. We pray for effective international intervention to ensure justice for all sides. We pray for humanitarian aid and rebuilding where destruction has occurred. We pray for peace and for justice in our homes and on our city streets.

Wrap all and each of these your people in your love. Let them hear: “Come to me you who suffer and are burdened and I will give you rest.”

We pray for an end to violence, war and death. Grant us this, peaceful God.
 Grant us a peaceful world.

Amen.

Ignatian Solidarity


An International Prayer for Peace

Lead me from death to life, from falsehood to truth.
Lead me from despair to hope, from fear to trust.
Lead me from hate to love, from war to peace.
Let peace fill our heart, our world, our universe.
Peace, peace, peace.

Adapted from the Upanishads by Satish Kumar


Peace Prayer

Before me peaceful,

Behind me peaceful,

Under me peaceful,

Over me peaceful,

Around me peaceful.

God of vision, help us to look upon the days before us with peace and calmness. Let us know that your wisdom will guide our time and work; that your presence will bless us with peace, courage, strength, vision and hope for the days before us.

Before me peaceful…

God of knowledge, you have blessed us with the gifts and the know-how to live well. While days of preparation and work seem to overwhelm at times, we feel your calming presence and guiding hand.You have brought peace to light so that we might be prepared for time together.

Behind me peaceful…

God of grace, let us not forget that it is your earth on which we tread.You guide our feet on safe ground.You protect us as we strive to walk the path of your wondrous Son. You walk next to us, peacefully, as we walk toward a world of peace and justice.

Under me peaceful…

God you have blessed our sky with the rain of justice. You have blessed our world with your heavenly light. Let us be embraced in the warmth shining over us and remember that you are here, with us. You are showering us with the peace of each new day.

Over me peaceful…

God of wonder you have blessed us with family & friends as well as people that lead, teach and welcome us. You guide us all to a place where we can work together as one human body. The peace of your presence shapes our hearts and vision on our journey. Good and gracious God, it is your peace that surrounds us, that protects us, that blesses us with the ability live each new day. Let us always remember your peaceful presence.

 Around me peaceful…


Oh God, You are the source of life and peace. We know it is you who turns our minds to thoughts of peace in this time of war. We pray that enemies begin to speak to one another; that those who are estranged join hands in friendship; that nations seed the way of peace. Strengthen our resolve to give witness to these truths by the way we live. Give to us: understanding that puts an end to strife; mercy that quenches hatred; and forgiveness that overcomes vengeance. Empower all people to live your law of love. Amen.

School Sisters of Notre Dame


Litany of Non-Violence

Provident God, aware of our own brokenness, we ask the gift of courage to identify how and where we are in need of conversion in order to live in solidarity with Earth and all creation.

Deliver us from the violence of superiority and disdain. Grant us the desire, and the humility, to listen with special care to those whose experiences and attitudes are different from our own.

Deliver us from the silence that gives consent to abuse, war and evil. Grant us the desire, and the courage, to risk speaking and acting for the common good.

Deliver us from the violence of irreverence, exploitation and control. Grant us the desire, and the strength, to act responsibly with the cycle of creation.

God of love, mercy and justice, acknowledging our complicity in those attitudes, actions and words which perpetuate violence, we beg the grace of a non-violent heart. Amen.

Sisters of Providence


Prayer of St. Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love;

For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying, that we are born to eternal life.


A Prayer for Unity in a Time of War

We implore you then, live up to your calling…spare no effort to make fast with bonds of peace the unity which the Spirit gives. – Ephesians 4:1, 3

O God, you are the hope and joy of all creation. You have given to all generations the power to seek you, and in seeking you, to find you. Grant us, we pray, a clearer vision of your truth, greater faith in your power, more confident assurance of your love.

Our sisters and brothers in violent places in our world, suffer overwhelming grief and affliction: bombed, maimed, mutilated, wasted and tormented . Grant us, we pray, courage to overcome our cautions, to set aside our unjust comforts, to resist the works of war and embrace the works of mercy.

Grant us, we pray, the grace to hear deep in our hearts our brothers’ and sister’s call. O God you are peace. From you is peace and unto you is peace. Let us live our lives in peace. Bring us into your peace. Unto you be honor and glory. We hear and obey. Grant us your forgiveness God, and unto you be our becoming. Amen.

Kathy Kelly


A Muslim, Jewish, Christian Prayer for Peace

O God, you are the source of life and peace.

Praised be your name forever.

We know it is you who turn our minds to thoughts of peace.

Hear our prayer in this time of war.

Your power changes hearts.

Muslims, Christians, and Jews remember, and profoundly affirm, that they are followers of the one God, children of Abraham – brothers and sisters.

Enemies begin to speak to one another; those who were estranged join hands in friendship; nations seek the way of peace together.

Strengthen our resolve to give witness to these truths by the way we live.

Give to us:

Understanding that puts an end to strife;

Mercy that quenches hatred; and

Forgiveness that overcomes vengeance.

Empower all people to live in your law of love.

Amen.


Out of the depths;

Not from the top of our lungs;

Not out of the need just to do something;

Not out of pure frustration, anger, desire for revenge;

Not out of the superficiality of our restlessness.

Out of the very depths of our being we cry to God for peace.

Out of that fearful place where we have to confess that we too are part of the destruction against which we are protesting.

Out of that center where we discover that we too are so high up in the air that we have become numb and no longer see, feel and hear the agony of thousands who are struck by the seeds of destruction…

Out of that empty spot of silence,where we feel helpless, embarrassed, and powerless, where we suffer from our own impotence to stop the reign of death in our world.

Out of those depths we cry to the Lord and say:

Lord have mercy.

Christ have mercy.

Lord have mercy.

Henri Nouwen


A Prayer for Peacemakers

Spirit of God,
give us the openness, deep within us,
to recognize, daily,
all people as made in your image and likeness.

Help us to learn from one another the ways of being fully alive,
at peace with ourselves and with those around us.
Give us the courage to transform
those parts of ourselves and our world,
that separate and create enmity.

Help us to take steps to stop
the cycle of violence
in our homes, in our workplaces,
in our neighborhoods, in our country,
in our world.

May we be open to our deepest yearning
for a world alive with your justice and truth,
to dream of a society
where all are treated with respect,
and, with the power of your Spirit,
to take the steps to bring it about.

Australian Catholic Social Justice Council


Prayer for Peace

Almighty God, the source of all our good.
You call us from oppression and conflict
to freedom and cooperation for the good of all.
Help people everywhere to build a world of peace ever more solidly established on the four pillars:
truth, justice, love and freedom.

Pope John Paul II


A Peace Blessing

May God banish from our hearts whatever might endanger peace.
May God transform us into witnesses of truth, justice and love.
May God enlighten the rulers of peoples so that in addition to their solicitude for the proper welfare of their citizens, they may also guarantee and defend the great gift of peace.
May God enkindle the will of all, so that they may overcome the barriers that divide, cherish the bonds of mutual charity, understand others, and pardon those who have done them wrong.
May all peoples of the earth become as one, and may the most longed-for peace blossom forth and reign always among us.

Pope John XXIII


O God, who would fold both heaven and earth in a single peace:
Let the design of your great love lighten upon the waste of our wraths and sorrows: and give peace to your Church, peace among nations,
peace in our dwellings, and peace in our hearts:
through your Son our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen

United Church of Christ


Eternal Lord, whose kingdom knows only the sword of righteousness and justice, and where your only power is love, send forth your spirit so that all the peoples of the earth will join together as children of one Father, for yours alone is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

United Church of Christ


Good and gracious God,
who loves and delights in all people,
we stand in awe before you,
knowing that the spark of life within each person
is the spark of your divine life.

Differences among cultures and races are
multicolored manifestations of your light.
May our hearts and minds be open to celebrate
similarities and differences among our sisters and brothers.

Please send your healing and reconciling Spirit in order to bind
the wounds created by racism and racial hatred,
and to promote understanding, justice, and love.

We place our hopes for racial harmony in our committed action
and in your living presence in our neighbor.

May all peoples live in peace!
Amen.

Adapted from the Sisters of Mercy


God, we ask your blessing on every victim of human trafficking. We know you bear their fear, their hurt and their pain.

May they feel your loving presence wash over them.

May justice to be served.

May these women, men and children be released from the anguish they suffer.

Make us instruments of love and compassion — seeking out, serving and helping to heal those who are victims of human trafficking. In Your name we pray.

Amen.

Catholic Health Association


More prayers for peace are available at:

Faith & Worship

National Federation of Catholic Youth Ministry (NFCYM)

Our Lady of the Lake Justice & Peace Committee

US Conference of Catholic Bishops