Reflection
The guns and rockets, drones and bombs are endless….
The pictures of destruction and death in Iraq, Syria,
Afghanistan, Congo, Nigeria, Sudan and South Sudan,
Ukraine, Israel and Palestine, Central African Republic,
El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala keep washing over
us in the news…
In the last few months, mass shootings and gang
violence have rung out on our city streets,
Gaza and Israel are again engaged in senseless, brutal, vastly uneven
slaughter while the world watches helplessly.
In countless parts of our world today, the air is tense with
Waiting, uncertainty, insecurity.
We pray for an end to the violence, for justice, and for peace to come and to last.
We fear that they will not.
O God, the Source of all that is, God of Abraham and Sarah,
from whom three great religions stemmed.
We pray for peace, salaam, shalom.
We pray for a just and respectful peace between Israelis and Palestinians,
Sunnis and Shiites, Muslims, Jews and Christians.
We pray for solutions that resolve the roots of historical conflicts.
We pray for a commitment to human rights by all sides and the protection of all lives.
We pray for effective international intervention to ensure justice for all.
We pray for humanitarian aid and rebuilding to reverse the destruction
and the hatred that has grown generation after generation.
We pray for peace and for justice in our homes and on our streets.
We pray for an end to violence, war, and senseless death.
Grant us this, peaceful God. Grant us a peaceful world. Amen.
James E. Hug, S.J.
Prayer
Make me an instrument of your peace.
Francis of Assisi
Action
Consider the suffering of the human family throughout the world because of violence. Consider the destruction of helpless non-human life and the environment caused by powerful forces who see war as the only solution to differences. Join an organization devoted to peace and justice even if your support can only be through prayer and contributions. Change your own perspectives so that you will choose peace.
Suggested Reading
“Put away your sword,” Jesus told him. “Those who use the sword will die by the sword.
Matthew 26:52
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.
Matthew 5:9
Peace is the only battle worth waging.
Albert Camus
Peace cannot be kept by force, it can only be achieved by understanding.
Albert Einstein
It isn’t enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn’t enough to believe in it. One must work at it.
Eleanor Roosevelt
When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.
Jimi Hendrix
If you want peace, you don’t talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies.
Archbishop Tutu
Courageous people do not fear forgiving for the sake of peace.
Nelson Mandela
An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.
Mahatma Gandhi
If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.
Mother Teresa
Peace is not a relationship of nations. It is a condition of mind brought about by a serenity of soul. Peace is not merely the absence of war. It is also a state of mind. Lasting peace can come only to peaceful people.
Jawaharlal Nehru
Peace demands the most heroic labor and the most difficult sacrifice. It demands greater heroism than war. It demands greater fidelity to the truth and a much more perfect purity of conscience.
Thomas Merton