Peace and Justice
Prayers for Peace and Justice
God, source of all light, we are surrounded by the darkness of the injustices experienced by your people, the poor who are hungry and who search for shelter, the sick who seek relief, and the downtrodden who seek help in their hopelessness.
Surround us and fill us with your Spirit who is Light. lead the way to be light to your people. Help our parish to be salt for our community as we share your love with those caught in the struggles of life.
We desire to be your presence to the least among us and to know your presence in them as we work through you to bring justice and peace to this world in desperate need.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, on God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Christ has no body now but ours, no hands but ours. Here on this earth ours is the work, to serve with the joy of compassion.
Christ has no hands but ours to heal the wounded world, no hands but ours to soothe all its suffering, no touch but ours to bind the broken hope of the people of God.
No eyes but ours to see as Christ would see, to find the lost, to gaze with compassion; no eyes but ours to glimpse the Holy Joy of the city of God no feet but ours to journey with the poor, to walk this world with mercy and justice. Ours are the steps to build a lasting peace for the children of God
– Saint Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)
Prayers
- For Peace
- For Human Dignity
- For Solidarity
- For the Poor and Vulnerable
- For the Sick and Dying Children of the World
- For Respect Life
- For God's Creation
- For Courage, Hope and Perseverance
- For God's Movement of Justice
- For Work
- Welcoming the Stranger
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; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
May Christ banish from the hearts of humans whatever might endanger peace. May he enlighten the rulers of peoples so that, in addition to their solicitude for the proper welfare of their citizens, they may guarantee and defend the great gift of peace. May the most longed-for peace blossom forth. Peace on Earth, John XXIII
O God, we pray for all those in our world who are suffering from injustice: For those who are discriminated against because of their race, color or religion; for those imprisoned for working for the relief of oppression; for those who are hounded for speaking the inconvenient truth; for those deprived of reasonable health and education; for those suffering from hunger and famine; for those too weak to help themselves and who have no one else to help them; for the unemployed who cry out for work but do not find it. We pray for anyone of our acquaintance who is personally affected by injustice. Forgive us, Lord, if we unwittingly share in the conditions or in a system that perpetuates injustice. Show us how we can serve your children and make your love practical by washing their feet. Amen. - Mother Teresa
God of life, You create an abundant world and promise enough for all. Yet we betray You as hunger and poverty thrive in our midst. Help us to trust in your promise, to believe that what seems impossible is possible in You. Stir us to rediscover Your Gospel as good news for the poor. Lead us to act in courage and love, so that hope might find a home in our communities, our country and our world, and that all people might join in your banquet. Amen.
Almighty and eternal God, may your grace enkindle in all persons a love of many unfortunate people whom poverty and misery reduce to a condition of life unworthy of human beings. Arouse in the hearts of those who call you God a hunger and thirst for social justice and for fraternal charity in deeds and in truth Grant, O Lord, peace in our day, peace to souls, peace to our community and peace among nations. Amen. - Pope Pius XII
For the Sick and Dying Children of the World
God, who gathered children in your lap, we pray to you now. We pray for the children of the world, especially for those who are sick and dying, dying of malnourishment and preventable diseases. Forgive our silence, our lack of compassion and action for these innocent victims. Increase our love for children and consecrate it. Empower us to work with one another to shape a world of justice for all your children, a world where all may grow in health and all may develop fully. Amen.
Eternal God, creator and sustainer of life, bless us with the courage to defend all life from conception to natural death. Bless us with the strength to respect all peoples from east to west, from north to south, so that we may truly follow the call of Jesus to be neighbor. We ask this in the name of Jesus who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And God said, "Let the waters teem with living creatures and let birds fly above the earth." And God said, "Let the earth produce every kind of living creature: cattle, things that crawl, and every sort of wild beast." And saw that it was good.
O God who created everything Good, teach us to love all of your creation. Help us to see you in stars and in the planets, in the trees and in the flowers, the rocks and the rivers, in these creatures of yours, and in one another. How great is your name, O Lord our God through all the earth. Amen.
For Courage, Hope and Perseverance
My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end, nor do I really know myself. And the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this, You will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore, I will trust you always, though I may seem to be lost in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone. - Thomas Merton
God of Justice, open our eyes to see you in the face of the poor. Open our ears to hear you in the cries of the exploited. Open our mouths to defend you in public squares as well as in private deeds. Remind us that what we do to the least ones, we do to you. Amen.
Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for He will speak peace to His people, to His faithful, to those who turn to Him in their hearts. Surely His salvation is at hand for those who fear Him, that His glory may dwell in our land. Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; justice and peace will kiss each other. Faithfulness will spring up from the ground, and justice will look down from the sky. The Lord will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase. Justice will go before Him and will make a path for His steps. - Psalm 85
Creator God, thank you for providing us with the gift to share our talents. Provide our community, our nation, our world the fortitude to provide work for all which is decent and fair. Make us faithful stewards of your creation to enhance the human dignity of our global family. We ask this in the name of Jesus, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit now and forever. Amen.
Jesus calls us to build this Kingdom here on earth. Teach us, Lord, the ways of hospitality. Give us the spirit of joyful welcome and the sensitivity to help people on the move feel they belong.
Grant that our tables at home may draw our new neighbors from other lands into a loving community and that the Eucharistic tables in our parishes may prefigure that banquet in heaven where all are one with you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit One God, forever and ever. Amen
