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The Sisters of Providence pray for Peace

Let us dedicate ourselves intensely to prayer and implore our Provident God to make those with political responsibility instruments of his peace.

Deeply concerned for the current situation and the uncertainty that reigns in the world, we invite you, following Pope Francis, to pray for peace. “Once again, he stressed with great sorrow, the peace of all is threatened by partisan interests… God [who] is the God of peace and not of war, who is the Father of all, not just of some, wants us to be brothers and not enemies.”

He reminded us of Jesus’s teachings: “To the diabolical insistence, to the diabolical absurdity of violence, we respond with the weapons of God: with prayer and fasting,” and announced that next March 2, Ash Wednesday, would be a day of fasting for peace.

Let us dedicate ourselves intensely to prayer and implore our Provident God to make those with political responsibility instruments of his peace.

 

Prayer for peace*

Pope Francis

Lord God of peace, hear our prayer!

We have tried so many times and over so many years to resolve our conflicts by our own powers and by the force of our arms. How many moments of hostility and darkness have we experienced; how much blood has been shed; how many lives have been shattered; how many hopes have been buried… But our efforts have been in vain.

Now, Lord, come to our aid! Grant us peace, teach us peace; guide our steps in the way of peace. Open our eyes and our hearts, and give us the courage to say: “Never again war!”; “With war everything is lost”. Instil in our hearts the courage to take concrete steps to achieve peace.

Lord, God of Abraham, God of the Prophets, God of Love, you created us and you call us to live as brothers and sisters. Give us the strength daily to be instruments of peace; enable us to see everyone who crosses our path as our brother or sister. Make us sensitive to the plea of our citizens who entreat us to turn our weapons of war into implements of peace, our trepidation into confident trust, and our quarreling into forgiveness.

Keep alive within us the flame of hope, so that with patience and perseverance we may opt for dialogue and reconciliation. In this way may peace triumph at last, and may the words “division”, “hatred” and “war” be banished from the heart of every man and woman. Lord, defuse the violence of our tongues and our hands. Renew our hearts and minds, so that the word which always brings us together will be “brother”, and our way of life will always be that of: Shalom, Peace, Salaam! Amen.