Prayers for Peace
To you, Creator of nature and humanity, of truth and beauty, I pray:
Hear my voice, for it is the voice of the victims of all wars and violence among individuals and nations.
Hear my voice, for it is the voice of all children who suffer and will suffer when people put their faith in weapons and war.
Hear my voice when I beg you to instil into the hearts of all human beings the wisdom of peace, the strength of justice and the joy of fellowship.
Hear my voice, for I speak for the multitudes in every country and in every period of history who do not want war and are ready to walk the road of peace.
Hear my voice and grant insight and strength so that we may always respond to hatred with love, to injustice with total dedication to justice, to need with the sharing of self, to war with peace.
O God, hear my voice, and grant unto the world your everlasting peace.
Pope John Paul II, Prayers for Peace.
Born in Poland, Karol Wojtyla became Pope in October 1978. World peace was one of his most passionate concerns, evidence by his invitation to the world's religious leaders to join him in a day of prayer for peace, in Assisi, 1986. This prayer was spoken during a visit to Hioshima in 1981.
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
Mother Teresa and Satish Kumar (a member of the Jain community), launched this prayer in 1981. It is an adaptation of a passage in the Hindu Upanishads, and has been used by people of all religions in peace meetings throughout the world.
Lord, open our eyes
to the sufferings of our imprisoned brothers and sisters
so that, by our understanding and love,
we may bring them your peace and joy.
You came to set us free.
May your light shine on the captives,
relieve their suffering,
and enable us all to grow toward true freedom
in justice and harmony.
Pax Christi, Prayers for Peace.
Founded in 1946 Pax Christi is an international peace movement which promotes justice and reconciliation, especially in Northern Ireland.
Grant us to look with your eyes of compassion,
O merciful God, at the long travail of mankind:
the wars, the hungry millions,
the countless refugees,
the natural disasters,
the cruel and needless deaths,
men's inhumanity to one another,
the heartbreak and hopelessness of so many lives.
Hasten the coming of the messianic age
when the nations shall be at peace,
and men shall live free from fear and free from want
and there shall be no more pain or tears,
in the security of your will,
the assurance of your love,
the coming of your Kingdom,
O God of righteousness, O Lord of compassion.
George Appleton, Prayers for Peace.
Former Archbishop of Jerusalem, where he worked to promote reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians. He remains active in the cause of peace and understanding between people of different faiths.
Lord Jesus,
you experienced in person
torture and death
as a prisoner of conscience.
You were beaten and flogged
and sentenced to an agonizing death
though you had done no wrong.
Be now with prisoners of conscience
throughout the world.
Be with them in their fear and loneliness,
in the agony of physical and mental torture,
and in the face of execution and death.
Stretch out your hands in power
to break their chains.
Be merciful to the oppressor and the torturer,
and place a new heart within them.
Forgive all injustice in our lives,
and transform us to be
instruments of your peace,
for by your wounds we are healed.
Amnesty International, Prayers for Peace.
Founded in 1961, Amnesty International is a worldwide human rights organisation which works impartially for the release of prisoners of conscience, provided they have neither used nor advocated violence. They won the 1977 Nobel Peace Prize.
