O Eternal One, You who live outside of time and reside in the imperishable moment, we ask Your blessing on this new year. Help us to experience each second of life, help us not to miss that which is important.
World Day of Peace
Reflection
Peace is not merely the absence of conflict. The biblical vision of peace (Shalom) is that of one community embracing all creation. To be God’s instrument of peace is to be empty of all obstacles to peace, to relate to all others without prejudice, anger, jealousy, greed or violence. It is to meet others, human and non-human, with goodwill, care, concern and a desire to heal the wounds and differences of the past. It requires us to surrender our own selfishness. What would our world be like if as individuals and as a nation we sought to be instruments of this peace?
Prayer
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Action
Suggested Reading
I am leaving you at peace. I am giving you my own peace. I am not giving it to you as the world gives. So don’t let your hearts be troubled, and don’t be afraid.
John 14:27
Peace is more than just a goal. It is a presence and a journey. Even when it is endangered within us and around us, like a small flame threatened by a storm, we must protect it.
Pope Leo XIV
It is my prayer at the start of the New Year that the rapid development of forms of artificial intelligence will not increase cases of inequality and injustice all too present in today’s world, but will help put an end to wars and conflicts, and alleviate many forms of suffering that afflict our human family.
Pope Francis
Let our New Year’s resolution be this: we will be there for one another as fellow members of humanity, in the finest sense of the word.
Goran Persson
Make New Year’s goals. Dig within, and discover what you would like to have happen in your life this year. This helps you do your part. It is an affirmation that you’re interested in fully living life in the year to come.
Melody Beattie
If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.
Nelson Mandela
When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.
Jimi Hendrix
Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
In a world so torn apart by rivalry, anger, and hatred, we have the privileged vocation to be living signs of a love that can bridge all divisions and heal all wounds.
Henri Nouwen
The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness, with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize that at the center of the universe dwells Wakan-Tanka, and that this center is really everywhere, it is within each of us. This is the real peace, and the others are but reflections of this. The second peace is that which is made between two individuals, and the third is that which is made between two nations. But above all you should understand that there can never be peace between nations until there is known that true peace, which, as I have often said, is within the souls of men.
Black Elk- Oglala Sioux