Praying for Peace





May Peace Prevail On Earth.
Peace Within, Peace Without.
Peace Now, Peace For All Beings.

Created by Sor. Ashera, O.O.L.S.
gfaulk@mindspring.com
Imbolc, 2003


How to Pray Your Peace Beads

First, make yourself comfortable and upright, spend a few minutes following your breathing and letting the mind settle.

Within your personal spiritual practice, invite in the Divine Peace-makers and intercessors, saints, angels and Our Lady. Ask them to assist in the work of peace today. When you are ready recite or read the following dedication;

Make me an instrument of thy 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;
And where there is sadness, joy.
Grant to us vision, courage and will,
So “Peace On Earth”, that miracle,
At last, might be fulfilled!

 

Holding your beads, think of what peace means. It may be different from one person to another. For whom do you set this intention of peace – for yourself or your family? For your country? For a particular place or event in the world? Be specific; what does this peace look like, feel like? In your mind, build a picture of peace, imagine it as concretely as possible. Hold this visualization while you chant the prayers. This becomes easier to do with repetition.

Beginning at the bottom of the loop, recite the prayer below on each bead. At the ½ way point (the peace charm/bead), pause for a moment and renew your visualization, then continue with the prayer.

May Peace Prevail On Earth

If your set has 54 beads, go around once more. Chant as many ‘rounds’ of the beads as you wish, but always try to complete at least one full set of 108 repetitions of the World Peace Prayer. At the end of the loop where the beads join, read or recite the prayer to Our Lady of Peace. Feel free to add in other blessings for your own circumstances.

Dona Nobis Pacem

Lady of Peace who hears the cries of the world
Extend your love through me and with me;
Bless those in harms way.
Bless those who are suffering.
Bless those who are dying.
Bless the innocent and the dead.
Bless those who love.
Bless those who are helping.
Bless those who are scared.
Bless those who can do nothing but wait.
Bless those who are falsely suspected.
Bless those of limited understanding.
Bless those upholding civil liberties.
Bless those who, though well intentioned, do wrong.
Bless those of our departed family
who love and hold us dear;
may we feel their comfort, too.
Bless those who work and pray for peace
throughout the good, green earth.
Bless us all, hold us safe within your embrace.

Amen!
 

Sit for a few moments, surrounded by the loving peace of the Mother. Extend this peace to the world.


About the Prayers

The prayer of dedication is adapted from portions of the Peace Prayer of St. Francis.


May Peace Prevail On Earth

May Peace Prevail on Earth originated with the World Peace Prayer Society. This prayer for world peace carries a message of great hope and healing. People all over the world are joining together to bring peace to our hearts and our planet through the prayer. It transcends barriers of nationality, race and religion to unite humanity in a call for the common good of all life on Earth.

The Lady of Peace

This blessing was adapted from a peace prayer by Carolyn McDade. We are powerful to create change and we work in relationship to the sacred. A mother watches over and responds to her children. She desires the best for them, accepts and nurtures them. There is no reason to believe less of our Divine Mother.

Mary, Queen of Peace

In 1917 Pope Benedict XV added the advocation “Queen of Peace” to the Litany of Loreto. The peace of the world is a special theme of the apparitions at Fatima, and again in Medjugorje. The Blessed Virgin Mary has often been asked to intercede for peace. In his homily for the World Day of Peace on January 1, 2002 - Pope John Paul II said;

If Jesus is Peace, Mary is the Mother of Peace,
Mother of the Prince of Peace.
Holy Mother, Mother of the Prince of Peace, help us!
Mother of Humanity and Queen of Peace, pray for us!

Humanity has had many names and faces for the Lady of Peace. Among her symbols are the gentle dove, the olive branch, the sheathed sword and the abundance of the earth. She is the one who mourns for the dead, who resolves conflicts, who heals. We ask her to pour out her blessings upon the world.
 

Dona nobis pacem; grant us peace.