Prayer for World Peace
by Joan D. Chittister, OSB
Great God, who has told us
Save us from our desire to hurt as we have been hurt,
Give us the strength it takes
We ask, O God, for the grace
Give us the depth of soul, O God,
For You, O God, have been merciful to us.
And so may we be merciful
This we ask through, Jesus
(This prayer is available from Pax Christi USA in prayer card format. If you reproduce this prayer, we ask that you add: “Reprinted with permission from Pax Christi USA, http://www.paxchristiusa.org/”)
“Vengeance is mine,”
save us from ourselves,
save us from the vengeance in our hearts
and the acid in our souls.
to punish as we have been punished,
to terrorize as we have been terrorized.
to listen rather than to judge,
to trust rather than to fear,
to try again and again
to make peace even when peace eludes us.
to be our best selves.
We ask for the vision
to be builders of the human community
rather than its destroyers.
We as for the humility as a people
to understand the fears and hopes of other peoples.
We ask for the love it takes
to bequeath to the children of the world to come
more than the failures of our own making.
We ask for the heart it takes
to care for all the peoples
of Afghanistan and Iraq, of Palestine and Israel
as well as for ourselves.
to constrain our might,
to resist the temptations of power,
to refuse to attack the attackable,
to understand
the vengeance begets violence,
and to bring peace - not war - wherever we go.
For You, O God, have been patient with us.
For You, O God, have been gracious to us.
and patient
and gracious
and trusting
with these others who you also love.
the one without vengeance in his heart.
This we ask forever and ever. Amen.
