Prayer in Time of War

Our Father, who art in heaven, slow to anger,
and of great mercy,
lover of all peoples of the earth,
Hallowed be thy Name.

Remind us that "all the nations are as
nothing before thee," their governments
but a shadow of passing age;
Thy kingdom come on earth.

Grant to thy children throughout the world,
and especially to the leaders of the nations,
the gift of prayerful thought and thoughtful prayer;
that following the example of our Lord,
we may discern what is right, and do it;
Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.

Help us to protect and to provide for all
who are hungry and homeless,
especially those who are deprived of food and
shelter, family and friends, by the tragedy of war;
Give us this day our daily bread.

Forgive us for neglecting to
"seek peace and pursue it,"
and finding ourselves in each new crisis,
more ready to make war than to make peace.
"We have not loved thee with our whole heart;
we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves";
Forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.

Let us not seek revenge, but reconciliation;
Let us not delight in victory, but in justice;
Let us not give ourselves up to pride, but to prayer;
Lead us not into temptation.

Be present to all thy children ravaged by war:
Be present to those who are killing
and to those who are being killed;
Be present to the loved ones of those who are killing
and to the loved ones of those who are being killed;
Deliver us from evil.

Subdue our selfish desires to possess and
to dominate, and forbid us arrogance in victory;
For thine is the kingdom, and the power,
and the glory, forever and ever.

Amen.

— Ms. Wendy Lyons
in Women's Uncommon Prayers: Our Lives Revealed,
Nurtured, Celebrated
edited by Elizabeth Rankin
Geitz, Marjorie A. Burke, and Ann Smith

From the cowardice that shrinks
from new truth.

From the laziness that is content
with half-truths,

From the arrogance that thinks
it knows all truth,

O God of Truth, deliver us.

— An ancient scholar
in Prayers for Healing
edited by Maggie Oman

You, the one
From whom on different paths
All of us have come.

To whom on different paths
All of us are going.
Make strong in our hearts what unites us;

Build bridges across all that divides us;
United make us rejoice in our diversity.

At one in our witness to your peace,
A rainbow of your glory.
Amen.

— Brother David Steindl-Rast
in Prayers for a Thousand Years
edited by Elizabeth Roberts and Elias Amidon

God Bless . . .

God bless this city
and move our hearts with pity
lest we grow hard . . .

God bless this house
with silence, solitude, simplicity
that we may pray . . .

God bless these days
of rough and narrow ways
lest we despair . . .

God bless the night
and calm the people's fright
that we may love . . .

God bless this land
and guide us with your hand
lest we be unjust . . .

God bless this earth
through pangs of death and birth
and make us whole . . .

— Jim Cotter
in Prayer at Night's Approaching

A young hero in the movie The Never-Ending Story
is tricked by an evil empress into using all but
the last one of his magic wishes. He says to the
evil empress, who intends to destroy the whole
world, "I wish for you to have a heart!"
This delivers both the empress and the world
from her small, evil desires.
— Caroline Casey
in Making the Gods Work for You

This Is My Song

This is my song, O God of all the nations,
a song of peace for lands afar and mine.
This is my home, the country where my heart is;
here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine;
But other hearts in other lands are beating
with hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.

My country's skies are bluer than the ocean,
and sunlight beams on cloverleaf and pine;
But other lands have sunlight, too, and clover,
and skies are everywhere as blue as mine.
O hear my song, O God of all the nations,
a song of peace for their land and for mine.

— Hymn sung to the tune "Finlandia"
Lyrics by Lloyd Stone (1934)

More Prayers and Meditations:
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