Pray for Peace - October 27th

 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:

“May those who love you rest secure.

7 May there be peace within your walls
    and security in your palaces.”
8 [Out of love for my relatives and friends,
    I will say, “May peace be within you.”
9 Out of love for the house of the Lord, our God,

    I will pray for your well-being.

PSALM 122:6-9

Hello all,

If you are like me, you have been watching the events unfold in the Holy Land and are shocked and horrified by the violence, especially by the attacks on innocent civilians.  

There is so much to say and so much that can and should be done.  But I wanted to invite all of you to pray for peace.  On October 27th, Pope Francis has asked Catholics to pray and fast for peace.

Prayer is not a dispensible part of bringing peace to the world.  Christians are often shamed for offering "thoughts and prayers," instead of direct action.  But it is not an either/or issue.  It is both/and.  We are called to direct acts of charity AND we are required to pray.

As the situation escalates, the call for prayer and fasting becomes even more urgent.  Jesus describes times when evil can only be driven out through prayer and fasting (Matt 17:21).

In the mystery of God, somehow He allows our prayers and sacrifices to have an effect on the world.  God is all-powerful, but CS Lewis said He gives us "the dignity of causality."  This means that He wants us to be engaged in the struggle between good and evil.  And one of the ways we can all participate is through prayer.

I would like to end with the Peace Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi.

I went to a Franciscan high school, so I became very familiar with this prayer.  One of the things I love about this prayer is that it tells an important truth: peace begins with me.  I have to let God's peace come into my life and then I must be the one to live it.  Only then can I seek peace outside of myself.  

So let us pray to be instruments of God's peace.

God Bless,

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.

O divine Master, grant that I 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.
Amen.