FOR THAILAND - A Prayer for Peace
LORD, OUR GOD. . .
We come to You in helplessness,
We have at this time
no prophet, priest, prince, or leader,
You alone are our God. . .help us, who are alone
and have no one to help us but You.
We ask You for the gift of prayer. . .
May this lifting of our words, hands, and hearts,
this acknowledgment of helplessness,
open us up to insight and strength
beyond ourselves.
May it link us to all sincere hearts
on both sides of this conflict.
May it become part of a conspiracy of compassion,
a prayer of many hearts and many places.
May it call us to be on Your side
rather than ask You to be on ours.
May it be a prayer that deeply respects those whose
whose hearts are different from our own.
May it be a prayer embracing the feelings of all
while discerning good from evil in that embrace.
We pray for an end to war. . .
Let grace soften our hearts
and the hearts of our leaders.
Lead them and us to the type of Truth that sets us free
beyond the tyranny of our greed
and the structures that divide us.
Lead us to the type of Love
that makes both for charity and justice.
We pray for the victims of war. . .
Help us to be in solidarity and displacement
with all those whose lives, dreams, and homes
are being destroyed.
Receive into Your embrace those who are dying,
give them the peace
denied them in this life.
Touch with healing the wounded
and look with pity on our mother, earth;
restore to her
the freshness of her virginity
and the fullness of her fertility.
We pray for a new order. . .
May Your kingdom come
so that all people of sincere will
become one community of heart.
Breathe into us Your Spirit. . .
charity, joy
peace, patience
goodness, long-sufering
fidelity, mildness, chastity
so that war among us becomes unthinkable.
Give us what we in our helplessness
cannot give ourselves and
help us in our helplessness
to remember that
the true weapons against war
are faith, prayer, fasting, and love.
We pray for courage and guidance. . .
Make this prayer more than privatized wishing
turn our wishes to hope
and let that hope confront the powers of war, so that
our love will be more than sentiment
our confrontation more than anger
our anger more than self-righteousness
and our righteousness that of Your gospel.
Give us Your peace. . .
Teach us that peace which surpasses our understanding
which is not about winning or losing
and power and effectiveness,
but which comes when we
open our lives and our hearts
to Your invitation to. . .
"Receive and give thanks
break and share."
Amen.
Taken from:
Chapter 12 - Vespers for the World
"Against an Infinite Horizon - The Finger of God in Our Everyday Lives"
by Fr. Ronald Rolheiser, OMI
Jesuit Communications Foundation Inc.
Ateneo de Manila, QC, Philippines
in conjunction with
The Crossroad Publishing Co., NY, USA
Revised Edition, 2001, pp. 232-235
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"..so that they may all be one, as You, Father are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be in Us, THAT THE WORLD MAY BELIEVE that You sent Me." John 17:21 |
