Pope Francis prayer

Lord God of peace, hear our prayer!

We have tried so many times and over so many years

To resolve our conflicts by our own powers and by the force of our arms. 

How many moments of hostility and darkness have we experienced?

How much blood has been shed? 

How many lives have been shattered? 

How many hopes have been buried?

But our efforts have been in vain.

Now Lord, come to our aid!

Grant us peace, teach us peace;

Guide our steps in the way of peace.

Open our eyes and our hearts,

And give us the courage to say:

“Never again war!”; “With war everything is lost”. 

Instill in our hearts the courage to take concrete steps to achieve peace.

Lord, God of Abraham, God of the Prophets, God of Love, 

You created us and you call us to live as brothers and sisters. 

Give us the strength daily to be instruments of peace; 

enable us to see everyone who crosses our path as our brother and sister. 

Make us sensitive to the pleas of our citizens who entreat us to turn our weapons of war

Into instruments of peace, 

Our trepidation into confident trust, 

And our quarrelling into forgiveness.

Keep alive within us the flame of hope,

So that with patience and perseverance 

we may opt for dialogue and reconciliation.

In this way may peace triumph at last,

 and may the words “division,”, “hatred,” and “war” 

be banished from the heart of all humankind. 

Lord, defuse the violence of our tongues and our hands,

Renew our hearts and minds, 

So that the word which always beings us together will be “brother,”

And our way of life will always be that of 

Shalom, Peace, Salaam!

Pope Francis

Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson

Pastor for Spiritual Formation