I was asked to offer a prayer
for peace. Please forgive me if I preach
and pray as a Christian, for that is what I am…
Our Sacred Scripture reveals
to us:
“God
is Love” (I Jn 4:16)
“In
this is love, not that we have loved God, but that God has loved us and sent
his Son as expiation for our sins” (I Jn 4:10)
“No
one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (Jn
15:13)
“Who
is my neighbor? … Who showed himself neighbor to the robbers’
victim? The one who treated him with mercy. Go and do likewise.” (Lk 10:29, 36-37)
“So
I say to you: love your enemies, pray
for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father…”
(Matt 5:44-45)
God
and Father of the human family, you have made us in your image and likeness;
you have blessed us with dignity as your adopted sons and daughters.
Help
us to recognize that dignity in those we love and those who do not love
us. Help us to embrace the path of
peace, of reconciliation, of forgiveness, of mercy, of healing.
May
bombs and mortars and rockets cease forever!
In
our lifetime, from Mohandas Gandhi to Martin Luther King to Archbishop Desmond
Tutu and Nelson Mandela to Pope Francis, we have heard (and sadly ignored) the
prophetic words that violence breeds only more violence; it never breeds the
peace for which we long.
Why must differences breed fear, which breeds
bigotry, which breeds hatred and violence?
Why, O Lord, why?
Alle Menschen werden Bruder… When, O Lord,
when??
May
we drop the weapons, drop the ego, drop the self-righteousness, drop the proper
pride, drop everything we clutch so tightly that it keeps us from extending a
hand of reconciliation to those we regard (and who regard us) as enemies.
God
our heavenly Father, make us people of peace!
Make us people of love! Make us
people of healing and reconciliation!
Make us your true children! Now,
O Lord, now!!
