These are my favorite prayers for peace. Perhaps some of you have favorite ones...........please share. My heart aches for all those who are in the midst of war.



Prayer for Peace
O God, Creator of the universe, who extends your paternal concern over every creature and guides the events of history to the goal of salvation, we acknowledge your fatherly love when you break the resistance of mankind and, in a world torn by strife and discord, you make us ready for reconciliation. Renew for us the wonders of your mercy; send forth your Spirit that he may work in the intimacy of hearts, that enemies may begin to dialogue, that adversaries may shake hands and peoples may encounter one another in harmony. May all commit themselves to the sincere search for true peace, which will extinguish all arguments, for charity which overcomes hatred, for pardon which disarms revenge.

Pope John Paul II

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Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace, Saint Francis Prayer

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; 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; it is in dying that we are born again to eternal life.

Marie - As we celebrate our great national holiday of Thanksgiving, Muleman is particularly appreciative of your restating St. Francis' wonderful prayer. St. Francis is a model for all of us - a beacon of light in a troubled world.
Muleman is a Protestant and, at the moment, without an church. The religious left is every bit as intolerant as the religious right. All of us need to band together to welcome and respect all believers and non-believers. God has not intended that His holy name be used as a means of division.
Thank you again for this prayer. May the peace of God be with you and yours.

St. Francis is my favorite. The Christian Crusades changed him. He gave up all his worldly goods and left his wealthy home to live a life of poverty helping all those in need. Certainly an example that Christians today should reflect upon.


I am an imperfect Catholic. I attend a Lutheran Church whose views are a little more liberal. I do attend Catholic services on occasion. I still have a passion for the old world Catholicism I was raised on. I do my best to learn about other's faith............and to keep an open mind. Respect is something you give not demand. Think what our world would and could be if we embraced that simple concept. I attended several Catholic schools. At one Catholic high school one of our priests was friends with Danial Berrigan. Occasionally he would read us letters from the then Father Berrigan while he was in prison. It helped shape my ideas on true activism and efforts towards peace.

I wonder what St. Francis thinks of us now? I am sure he is shaking his head.......we haven't learned anything from our human history.


http://www.webster.edu/~barrettb/berrigan.htm

http://sf.indymedia.org/mail.php?id=104080
An interview on Democracy Now.

I Love St. Francis' prayer - and use it often though I am not Catholic or Christian.

I'm also very fond of these -

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Baha'i Prayer for Peace

Be generous in prosperity, and thankful in adversity.
Be fair in judgement, and guarded in thy speech.
Be a lamp unto those who walk in darkness, and a home to the stranger.
Be eyes to the blind, and a guiding light unto the feet of the erring.
Be a breath of life to the body of humankind,
a dew to the soil of the human heart, and a fruit upon the tree of humility.

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Buddhist Prayer for Peace

May all beings everywhere plagued with sufferings of body and mind quickly be freed from their illnesses.
May those frightened cease to be afraid, and may those bound be free.
May the powerless find power, and may people think of befriending one another.
May those who find themselves in trackless, fearful wilderness - the children, the aged, the unprotected - be guarded by beneficial celestials, and may they swiftly attain Buddhahood.

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Hindu Prayer for Peace

Oh God, lead us from the unreal to the Real.
Oh God, lead us from darkness to light.
Oh God, lead us from death to immortality.
Shanti, Shanti, Shanti unto all.
Oh Lord God almighty, may there be peace in celestial regions.
May there be peace on Earth.
May the waters be appeasing.
May herbs be wholesome, and may trees and plants bring peace to all.
May all beneficent beings bring peace to us.
May thy Vedic Law propogate peace all through the world.
May all things be a source of peace to us.
And may thy peace itself, bestow peace on all and may that peace come to me also.

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Muslim Prayer for Peace

In the name of Allah, the beneficent, the merciful. Praise be to the Lord of the Universe who has created us and made us into tribes and nations that we may know each other, not that we may despise each other.
If the enemy incline towards peace, do thou also incline towards peace, and trust God; for the Lord is the one that heareth and knoweth all things. And the servants of God, most gracious are those who walk on the Earth in humility, and when we address them, we say "PEACE".


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Native American Prayer for Peace

Oh Great Spirit of our Ancestors, I raise my pipe to you.
To your messengers the four winds, and to Mother Earth who provides for your children:
Give us the wisdom to teach our children to love, to respect, and to be kind to each other so that they may grow with peace of mind.
Let us learn to share all good things that you provide for us on this Earth.

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And one of my favorite songs -

Let there be peace on earth,
and let it begin with me.
Let there be peace on Earth,
the peace that was meant to be.


With God as our Father,
brothers all are we,
Let me walk with my brother,
in perfect harmony.


Let peace begin with me,
let this be the moment now.
With every step I take,
let this be my solemn vow,


To take each moment and live each moment
in peace, eternally.
Let there be Peace on Earth,
and let it begin with me.

Sapphire - Thank you for sharing these prayers with us. You've demonstrated that God is a respecter of all religions and that no one branch of any faith has a corner on the market of spirituality.
Yes, St. Francis must feel very sad these days. An old Protestant hymn has more meaning now than ever:

Oh God our help in ages past
Our hope for years to come
Our shelter from the stormy blast
And our eternal home.

Thanks to everyone for these prayers -- they are very healing. I would like to add these from the Book of Common Prayer:

For Peace:
Eternal God, in whose perfect kingdom no sword is drawn but the sword of righteousness, no strength known but the strength of love: So mightily spread abroad your Spirit, that all peoples may be gathered under the banner of the Prince of Peace, as children of one Father; to whom be dominion and glory, now and for ever. Amen.

For Social Justice:
Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so move every human heart [and especially the hearts of the people of this land], that barriers which divide us may crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

And for all of us in times of conflict:
O God, you have bound us together in a common life. Help us, in the midst of our struggles for justice and truth, to confront one another without hatred or bitterness, and to work together with mutual forbearance and respect; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Thanks loved them all.