Assisi Province, South India
A Prayer for Peace
Lord Jesus Christ,
You are the true King of peace.
In you alone are found freedom.
Please free our world from conflict.
Bring unity to troubled nations.
Let your glorious peace reign in every heart.
Dispel all darkness and evil.
Protect the dignity of every human life.
Replace hatred with your love.
Give wisdom to world leaders.
Free them from selfish ambition.
Eliminate all violence and war.
Glorious Virgin Mary,
Please pray for peace.
Pray for unity amongst nations.
Pray for unity amongst all people.
Pray for the most vulnerable.
Pray for those suffering.
Pray for the fearful.
Pray for those most in need.
Pray for us all.
Jesus, Son of the Living God, have mercy on us.
Jesus, hear our prayers.
Jesus, I trust in you!
Amen.
International Leadership Team
A Prayer for World Peace
We pray for Ukraine, Russia, Israel, and Palestine that violent encounters may be replaced by loving embraces, and peace and justice could be experienced by all. We pray for world leaders seeking to lead their countries in the way of peace.
We pray for the power to be gentle;
the strength to be forgiving;
the patience to be understanding;
and the endurance to accept the consequences
of holding on to what we believe to be right.
May we put our trust in the power of good to overcome evil
and the power of love to overcome hatred.
We pray for the vision to see and the faith to believe
in a world emancipated from violence,
a new world where fear shall no longer lead men or women to commit injustice,
nor selfishness make them bring suffering to others.
Help us to devote our whole life and thought and energy
to the task of making peace,
praying always for the inspiration and the power
to fulfill the destiny for which we and all men and women were created.
- Author Unknown
U.S. Province
South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu (1931–2021) envisions God’s dream for the world through this message.
Dear Child of God, before we can become God’s partners, we must know what God wants for us. “I have a dream,” God says. “Please help Me to realize it. It is a dream of a world whose ugliness and squalor and poverty, its war and hostility, its greed and harsh competitiveness, its alienation and disharmony are changed into their glorious counterparts, when there will be more laughter, joy, and peace, where there will be justice and goodness and compassion and love and caring and sharing. I have a dream that swords will be beaten into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks, that My children will know that they are members of one family, the human family, God’s family, My family.”
In God’s family, there are no outsiders. All are insiders. Black and white, rich and poor, gay and straight, Jew and Arab, Palestinian and Israeli, Roman Catholic and Protestant, Serb and Albanian, Hutu and Tutsi, Muslim and Christian, Buddhist and Hindu, Pakistani and Indian—all belong.…
ULAF Region
O Lord, you see how everywhere the winds have burst forth,
and the sea is convulsed with the great violence of the rising waves.
Command, we beseech you who alone are able,
both the winds and the sea.
Restore to mankind the true peace of your name,
that peace which the world cannot give,
and the calm of social harmony.
Under your favor and inspiration may men return to due order,
and having overthrown the rule of greed,
bring back again as ought to be,
the love of God, justice,
charity toward neighbor,
temperance in all desires.
May your kingdom come.
May all recognize that they are subject to you,
and must serve you who are truth and salvation,
that without you they labor in vain.
In your law is reason and fatherly kindness.
You are ever at hand with your strength
and your copious power to help man to keep it.
Life upon earth is a warfare,
but you watch the contest and aim man to conquer.
The weak you sustain,
the victor you crown.
Pope Leo XIII
Assisi Province, South India
We are moulded, each one of us,
in the image of God,
and within our souls there is a fingerprint
none can erase.
We pray for those who have no regard
for anyone but self,
who put no value on human life.
For nations and individuals who abuse and kill.
We are not called to be judge or jury,
but we are called to be agents of change,
and if the butterfly that flaps its wings
should be our attitude to others
then so be it, Lord,
and may the hurricane this generates
somewhere within the world
reach into the hearts and souls of those
for whom we pray, and reveal to them
how precious are those
for whom they have no love,
and how precious are they
who now bring tears to the eyes of God.
John Birch
St. Francis Province, North India
“Do not be anxious about anything but in every situation by prayer and petition, and with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” Jesus our loving Lord, the peacemaker of all the universe, we offer you the entire world, which needs your peace. Lord, you are the prince of peace. Renew our life and spread over us the shelter of your peace. Guide us with your good counsel for your namesake and be our help. Shield and shelter us beneath the shadow of your wings. Defend us against enemies, illness, war, famine and sorrow. Distance us from wrong doings. Lord, and watch over us. Deliver us from all kinds of evil. You, Lord, are gracious and merciful. At this time of Christmas, grant peace and comfort to the people, especially those suffering in the war-torn areas. Amen