Weekly Peace Prayer

for January 28, 2025
prepared by Sister Carmel Little, CSJP

Constitutions:
Peace is God’s gift to us, given in Christ,
a gift we experience and enjoy now,
though not in its completeness.

We believe that peace points beyond itself in hope
to the fullness of time. #1

Christ is our peace, the source of our power.
United with him we engage in the struggle
against the reality of evil and continue the work
of establishing God’s reign of justice and peace. #2

Reading:        Hebrew Scriptures: Isaiah 2
They shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nations shall not lift up sword against nation,
nor shall they train for war again. 
Isaiah 2:4

Prayer:          
God of Peace you created your people to live an abundant life
and walk in the way of peace.

We pray that all nations might choose to walk in peace
and put aside warfare and strife. 

We ask you to give new and powerful gifts of courage
and leadership to those who speak and work for peace.

Help us to speak on behalf of peace,
to work for peace, to pray for peace,
and live in peace each with one another.  Amen

Quiet Reflection:

Reading:    Christian Scriptures   - John 14: 27,28
Peace is my farewell to you,
My peace is my gift to you.
Not as the world gives do I give to you.
Do not let your hearts to troubled or afraid.
You heard me tell you, “I am going away
and I will come back for you.”                      

Reading:        Pope Francis
“Peace firstly means there are no wars … but it also means that there is friendship between all, that every day a step ahead is made for justice, so that there are no more children who are hungry, that there are no more sick children who do not have the possibility of receiving healthcare. Doing all of this means making peace. Peace involves work; it is not about staying calm and doing nothing. No! True peace means working so that everyone has a solution to the problems, to the needs, that they have in their land, in their homeland, in their family, in their society.”
Audience with children of the Peace Factory, May 12, 2015

Prayer:  
O God of peace,
sparkle our staleness with your hope,
invade the depth of our being with new courage,
hold us in your love.

Grant that our lives may be:
surprising in forgiveness and healing,
abounding in joy and laughter,
daring in deeds and dreams of justice.

May we be do-ers, mak-ers, pray-ers of peace
in memory of Christ Jesus.   Amen.
From the Dedication Liturgy of Peacemakers Chapel
Walsh College, Canton, OH
January 15, 1984

Quiet Reflection

Prayer:
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 the Christ.  Amen                   
Author Unknown

Blessing:   May you be found rich in the harvest of justice
which Jesus Christ has ripened in you,
to the glory and praise of God.
Philippians 1: 11