| Philippians 4:4-9Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, beloved, whatever is true, The Year of St Paul: June 29 2008 – June 29 2009 |
PrayerO God of all youth, we pray to you: We are young people, and we want to celebrate life! We cry out against all that kills life: hunger, poverty, unemployment, sickness, repression, individualism, injustice. We want to announce fullness of life: work, education, health, housing, bread for all. We want communion, a world renewed. We hope against hope. With the Lord of history we want to make all things new. A group of Brazilian young people (1998 Share Lent kit, CCODP) |
Useful Websites.The Columban Mission Society of the United Kingdom | |
| Micah Challenge: A prayer of hope: Let us pray: We pray today for God’s world.We pray that it might discover its human face. We pray for a world divided. Into this divided human community you arrive. You sit amongst the poor but the wealthy do not see you. but those with power cannot hear your footsteps. but the greedy will not share their food with you. so that whilst we may call the world towards a different way, we might also, in your name, become the answer to the prayers of the silent, suffering, struggling ones. grant us the courage to live as well as proclaim your gospel. |
A Franciscan Benediction
May God bless you with Discomfort… May God bless you with Anger… May God bless you with Tears… And may God bless you with enough foolishness… Amen. |
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| Prayer of Pope Pius XII Almighty and eternal God, may your grace enkindle in all of us, a love of the many unfortunate people whom poverty and misery reduce to a condition of life unworthy of human beings. Arouse in the hearts of those who call you God a hunger and thirst for social justice and for fraternal charity in deeds and in truth. Grant, O Lord, peace in our days, peace to souls, peace to our community and peace among nations. Amen. |
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God…But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies,
do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you. – Matthew 5:9; Luke 6:27-31 |
Prayer for Peace in Iraq and the Middle East We come to you, God Creator, you are the source of life and beauty and power. Your son Jesus is the way of faith and hope and love. Your Spirit is the fire of love, the fount of wisdom, the bond of unity. You call us at all times to be people of the beatitudes, Witnesses to the Gospel of peace and love and forgiveness. You call us at this time, when war and rumours of war, weigh heavily on the peoples of Iraq and the Middle East. Their lives are already broken by suffering and violence. We renew our acceptance of your call. We promise to work: To bring the light of the Gospel to those living in darkness, To bring the hope of the Gospel to those living in despair, To bring the healing of the Gospel to the lonely, the disadvantaged, the marginalised And to bring the peace of the Gospel to a divided world.
CAFOD and Pax Christi |
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| Prayer of St Francis Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. . . Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. |
God, Open our eyes that we may see the needs of others; Open our ears that we may hear their cries; Open our hearts that we may feel their anguish and their joy. Let us not be afraid to defend the oppressed, the poor, the powerless, because of the anger and might of the powerful. Show us where love and hope and faith are needed, and use us to bring them to those places. Open our ears and eyes, our hearts and lives, that we may in these coming days be able to do some work of justice and peace for you. Amen. Source: Sabeel Center |
Lead me from death to life, from falsehood to truth. Lead me from despair to hope, from fear to trust. Lead me from hate to love, from war to peace. Let peace fill our heart, our world, our universe. Peace, peace, peace. (Adapted from the Upanishads by Satish Kumar.) |
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| Bless our beautiful land O God With its wonderful variety of people Of races, cultures and languages. May we be a nation Of laughter and joy Of justice and reconciliation Of peace and unity Of compassion, caring and sharing. We pray this in the name of Jesus the Christ. Amen. (Bishop Desmond Tutu). |
Grant us, Lord God, a vision of your world, as your love would have it: • a world where the weak are protected, and none go hungry or poor; • a world where the riches of creation are shared, and everyone can enjoy them; • a world where different races and cultures live in harmony and mutual respect; • a world where peace is built with justice, and justice is guided by love. Give us the inspiration and courage to build it, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.from Prayers for Justice and Peace |
For Victims and Perpetrators of Injustice •For all those who have fallen victim to hatred and inhumanity, •for those loved ones who are left behind to mourn, •for the souls of those whose hearts are cold, Lord, hear our prayer. •For the children who are being born into this world of conflict and violence, •for women and mothers who suffer needlessly, Lord, hear our prayer. •For all those who have been forced into unemployment, who long to return to work, •for all those who struggle to support their families, Lord, hear our prayer. •For the soldiers who are misguided in thinking that their bullets will bring about peace, •for those who feel called to conscientiously object to military orders, Lord, hear our prayer. •And this we ask through Christ Our Lord. Amen.
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| O God, Open our eyes that we may see the needs of others; Open our ears that we may hear their cries; Open our hearts that we may feel their anguish and their joy. Let us not be afraid to defend the oppressed, the poor, the powerless, because of the anger and might of the powerful. Show us where love and hope and faith are needed, and use us to bring them to those places. Open our ears and eyes, our hearts and lives, that we may in these coming days be able to do some work of justice and peace for you. Amen.Source: Sabeel Center |
Prayer for Justice and Peace Almighty and eternal God, may your grace enkindle in all of us a love for the many unfortunate people whom poverty and misery reduce to a condition of life unworthy of human beings. Arouse in the hearts of those who call you Father a hunger and thirst for justice and peace, and for fraternal charity in deeds and in truth. Grant, O Lord, peace in our days, peace to souls, peace to families, peace to our country, and peace among nations. AmenPope Pius XII |
Prayer for World Peace (Modified) We pray to Our Lord and God in whom we live and move and have our being. We pray that we may at all times keep our minds open to new ideas and be prepared to question dogma; that we may grow in our understanding of the nature of all living beings and our connectedness with the natural world; that we may become ever more filled with generosity of spirit and true compassion and love for all life; that we may strive to heal the hurts that we have inflicted on nature and control our greed for material things, knowing that our actions are harming our natural world and the future of our children; that we may value each and every human being for who he is, for who she is, reaching to the spirit that is within, knowing the power of each individual to change the world. We pray for social justice, for the alleviation of the crippling poverty that condemns millions of people around the world to lives of misery – hungry, sick, and utterly without hope. We pray for the children who are starving, who are condemned to homelessness, slave labour, and prostitution, and especially for those forced to fight, to kill and torture even members of their own family. We pray for the victims of violence and war, for those wounded in body and for those wounded in mind. We pray for the multitudes of refugees, forced from their homes to alien places through war or through the utter destruction of their environment. We pray for these things with humility; We pray because of the hope that is within us, and because of a faith in the ultimate triumph of the human spirit; We pray because of our love for Creation, and because of our trust in God. We pray, above all, for peace throughout the world. AmenDr. Jane Goodall from World Prayers |
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| Violence never again! War never again! Terrorism never again! In God’s name, may all religions bring upon earth justice and peace, forgiveness, life and love! AmenHis Holiness Pope John Paul II – (1.24.2002) |
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, Because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To let the oppressed go free, To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.(Luke 4: 18 – 19) |
Prayer of the Aboriginal PeopleFather of all, You gave us the Dreaming You have spoken to us through our beliefs, You then made your love clear to us in the person of Jesus. We thank you for your care. You own us. You are our hope. Make us strong as we face the problems of change. We ask you to help the people of Australia, To listen to us and respect our culture. Make the knowledge of you grow strong in all people So that you can be at home in us, And we can make a home for everyone in our land. Amen. Prepared by the Aboriginal People from |
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| NATISCC PrayerFather Our Creator You created all things seen and unseen. Listen to my silent prayers as I stand here before you, As my weary eyes look back over distant horizons, Back to those days where my people walked. The footprints of my Grandfathers are imprinted on the earth, And the images become real to me. I see my Grandfathers standing tall and strong, Warriors of long ago. I hear them singing, I see them dancing, And my spirit moves within me. They told of the emus fighting, Father, Creator, is this the purpose of my being here. Let me walk with you and my Grandfathers Amen. Prepared by NATSICC Leadership Gathering 1995 |
Reconciliation PrayerHoly Father, God of Love You are the creator of this land and all good things We acknowledge the pain and shame of our history And the suffering of our peoples. And we ask your forgiveness. We thank you for the survival of Indigenous cultures. Our hope is in you because you gave your son Jesus To reconcile the world to you We pray for your strength and grace to forgive Accept and love one another As you love us and forgive and accept us In the sacrifice of your Son Give us the courage to accept the realities of our history So that we may build a better future for our nation Teach us to respect all cultures. Teach us to care for our land and waters. Help us to share justly the resources of this land. Help us to bring about spiritual and social change To improve the quality of life for all groups in our communities, Especially the disadvantaged. Help young people to find true dignity and self esteem by your Spirit May your power and love be the foundations On which we build our families, our communities and our nation Through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen Prepared by Wontulp Bi-Buya Indigenous Theology Working Group |
Prayer to make poverty history Christ our Lord, your light shines into the shadows, and shows us where the obstacles to change lie. We know that often they are in our own hearts, in the way we live, and in our daily choices and actions. We pray that we may accept the light of your love as a challenge to change ourselves and our world. We pray that, each day, we make the choices and take the actions that will bring an end to poverty and hunger, and lead us all towards a fairer world. Be with us, Lord, as we face your challenge and learn how to live our lives in love. Amen © Linda Jones
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| A Lord’s Prayer for JusticeOur Father … who always stands with the weak, the powerless, the poor, the abandoned, the sick, the aged, the very young, the unborn, and those who, by victim of circumstances, bear the heat of the day.
Who art in heaven … where everything will be reversed, where the first will be last arid the last will be first, but where all will be well and every manner of being will be well. Hallowed be thy name … may we always acknowledge your holiness, respecting your ways and not our ways, your standards and not our standards. May the reverence we give your name pull us out of the selfishness that prevents us from seeing the pain of our neighbor. Your kingdom come … help us to create a world where, beyond our own needs and hurts, we will do justice, love tenderly, and walk humbly with you and each other. Your will be done … open our freedom to let you in so that the complete mutuality that characterizes your life might flow through our veins and thus the life that we help generate may radiate your equal love for all and your special love for the poor. On earth as in heaven … may the work of our hands, the temples and structures we build in this world, reflect the temple and the structure of your glory so that the joy, graciousness, tenderness, and justice of heaven will show forth within all of our structures on earth. Give … life and love to us and help us to see always everything as gift. Help us to know that nothing comes to us by right arid that we must give because we have been given to. Help us realize that we must give to the poor, not because they need it, but ‘because our own health depends upon our giving to them. Us … the truly plural us. Give not just to our own but to everyone, including those who are very different from the narrow us. Give your gifts to all of us equally. This day … not tomorrow. Do not let us push things off into some indefinite future so that we can continue to live justified lives in the face of injustice because we can make good excuses for our inactivity. Our daily bread … so that each person in the world may have enough food, enough clean water, enough clean air, adequate health care, and sufficient access to education so as to have the sustenance for a healthy life. Teach us to give from our sustenance and not just from our surplus. And forgive us our trespasses … forgive us our blindness toward our neighbor, our own self pre-occupation, our racism, our sexism, and our incurable propensity to worry only about ourselves and our own. Forgive us our capacity to watch the evening news and do nothing about it. As we forgive those who trespass against us .. .help us to forgive those who victimize us. Help us to mellow out in spirit, to not grow bitter with age, to forgive the imperfect parents and systems that wounded, cursed and ignored us. And do not put us to the test … do not judge us only by whether we have fed the hungry, given clothing to the naked, visited the sick, or tried to mend the systems that victimized the poor. Spare us this test for none of us can stand before your Gospel scrutiny. Give us, instead, more days to mend our ways, our selfishness, and our systems. But deliver us from evil … that is, from the blindness that lets us continue to participate in anonymous systems within which we need not see who gets less as we get more. Amen. |
A JUSTICE CREEDWe Believe
All people are a revelation of the image of God. The basic dignity that each person possesses comes from God; therefore, all discrimination is wrong. People take precedence over things and structures, We believe in the dignity of the human person. The mystery of the Trinity involves the relationship of complete love among the three divine persons in one God. As persons made in God’s image, we must model God’s self-giving love. Hence, the human person is both sacred and fundamentally social. In community we realize the fulfillment of our dignity and rights in relationship with and to others. We believe in community and the common good. People have basic rights and responsibilities because of their human dignity that reflects the fact that they have been created in God’s image. Catholic teaching emphasizes that people have a right to life and to the basic necessities that provide quality of life: food, shelter, health care, education, and employment. We are called to respects the rights of others and to seek the common good. We believe in rights and responsibilities The Gospel calls Christians to put the needs of the poor first. A common moral test of society is how it treats its most vulnerable people. Wherever there is structural injustice, Christians are called to oppose it. Those with the greatest need require the greatest response. We believe in our responsibility to the poor. Work is an expression of our dignity and of our involvement in God’s creation. People have a right to decent work, fair wages and private property. The economy exists to serve the people and not vice versa. We believe in the dignity of work. We are all one human family in the world. As we realize our dignity, rights, and responsibilities, in relationship with others, we need to continue to build a community that empowers people to attain their full human potential. By working for justice, we fulfill our mandate to build the Body of Christ. We believe in solidarity We believe in stewardship of the earth and its resources. |
Today, we make a covenant with this land. As a branch is grafted onto a mature stock, So we want to be grafted onto the ancient heritage of this land, So that its life may flow through us. We commit ourselves to the land we live in and to all who belong to it, Most particularly our Indigenous people And also the newcomers to this country, Who have bound themselves to this land. We will care for it with gentleness, patience, simplicity and compassion, Rather then merely something to be bought and sold. We will see the land as a gift for which we are truly thankful, And undertake the privileged duty of respecting and looking after it. We thank God, the Great Creator Spirit, for all the earth provides: Water, food, and all the riches above and below the ground. We undertake to use them sparingly and thoughtfully. As we enter more deeply into the Spirit of the land, We see the land as a Sacrament and Icon of our mothering Creator Spirit. Be still. Listen to the breath of the Spirit which has blown through it for ages past, Today, and always; For this is: The Spirit of the Dreaming. – Betty Pike
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| Lord God of All, we come to you as Caritas sisters and brothers from the four corners of the world, refugees and relatives. We come as people who know suffering and struggle, as families and communities with hope. We come with respect, compassion and informed solidarity with our Palestinian sisters and brothers. We ask you hear our prayer. We ask you hear their prayer for peace, justice, equal rights and human dignity. Turn their brokenness into renewing wholeness and courage. Turn their displacement into safe secure sheltering homes. Turn their long hungers into nurturing fields, foods for life so families can flourish. May stinging betrayals of unjust law and disorder finally end so healing, forgiveness and reconciliation can begin for all peoples in the Holy Land, in this ancient/modern region. May rhetoric and history stop repeating itself as if our Palestinian friends were not real. May all “stakeholders” see these very human beings, flesh and precious blood alive. May their children today never relinquish their steadfast enduring belief for a better tomorrow. Lord, God of All, heal all who journey through desert and darkness – heal us too that we may be peacemakers. May our simplest honest prayers unite, uplift, strengthen, respect and build up our solidarity. May no day pass without a faithful pause which gathers us in as one human family. One people of God from Palestine through the region and everywhere beyond every border. Together may we be a certain path to peace that is possible, that is all we need today. Amen. Credit: Joseph Donnelly/Caritas |
Prayer for Blessing of our Justice Work o God of great compassion,You called us to serve the cause of justice And to be messengers of Your love To those the world has forgotten. As we go forth in the knowledge That You are with us always, Help us to use our energy, our love and power To transform Your earth through prayer and action. Bless each of us in the days ahead. Bless our efforts to serve the poor and the disadvantaged. Bless our hopes to work for the fullness of life, Source: Centre of Concern – www.coc.org/act-now/take-action |
Prayer for AustraliaGod of holy Dreaming, Great Creator Spirit, from the dawn of creation you have given your children the good things of Mother Earth. You spoke and the gum tree grew. In the vast desert and dense forest, and in cities at the water’s edge, Creation sings your praise. Your presence endures as the rock at the heart of our Land. When Jesus hung on the tree The sunrise of your Son coloured the earth anew, Lenore Parker 2002, Ordained Anglican Deacon in the Diocese of Lismore and Yaegl woman. |
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| Prayer for the Journey of HealingAlmighty and loving God, you who created ALL people in your image, Lead us to seek your compassion as we listen to the stories of our past. You gave your only Son, Jesus, who died and rose again so that sins will be forgiven. We place before you the pain and anguish of dispossession of land, language, lore, culture and family kinship that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have experienced. We live in faith that all people will rise from the depths of despair and hopelessness. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families have endured the pain and loss of loved ones, through the separation of children from their families. We are sorry and ask Your forgiveness. Touch the hearts of the broken, homeless and inflicted and heal their spirits. In your mercy and compassion walk with us as we continue our journey of healing to create a future that is just and equitable. Lord, you are our hope. Amen. With thanks to the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ecumenical Commission |
Sorry Prayer
God of all peoples, National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ecumenical Commission 2008 |
Prayer to the Holy Spirit
Holy God of Holy Wisdom, In the power of the One who is National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ecumenical Commission 2008 |
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| An Easter Prayer for Gaza
A broken body We pray for the wounded, broken people of Gaza May we place our faith in the hope of the risen Christ © Chris Rose April 2015 |