The Bishops of Scotland invite us to make today a day of prayer for Justice and Peace and to reflect on the theme Pope Benedict has chosen for the annual World Peace Day, taking up one of the Beatitudes: ‘Blessed are the Peacemakers’.
Introduction to the Liturgy
As we all know, the quotation from Matthew’s Gospel continues: ‘for they [the Peacemakers] shall be called Sons and Daughters of God’. So at the beginning of our Eucharist let us ask the Lord to take from our hearts and from our community every division which is an obstacle to the peace Christ brings, and to make us worthy of our calling as brothers and sisters of the Lord.
Lord Jesus, you are our Passover and our lasting Peace. Lord have mercy.
Christ Jesus, you have reconciled us to the Father and you call us to be ambassadors of reconciliation. Christ have mercy.
Lord Jesus, you are the Master of the Wedding Feast. You lead us to the joy of
God’s Kingdom. Lord have mercy.
Blessed are the peacemakers
Blessed are you peacemakers who say no to war as a means to peace.
Blessed are you peacemakers who are committed to disarm weapons of mass destruction.
Blessed are you peacemakers who wage peace at heroic personal cost.
Blessed are you peacemakers who challenge and confront judges, courts and prisons.
Blessed are you peacemakers who help those who are hurting.
Blessed are you peacemakers who befriend perfect strangers.
Blessed are you peacemakers who open doors for acting justly, loving tenderly and walking humbly with God and all people of good will.
Blessed are you peacemakers who offer hope and healing.
Blessed are you peacemakers who care and comfort.
Blessed are you peacemakers who help find answers.
Blessed are you peacemakers who welcome, encourage and inspire.
Blessed are you peacemakers who delight in creation, art and creativity.
Blessed are you peacemakers who provide stability not insanity.
Blessed are you peacemakers who help restore faith and love.
Blessed are you peacemakers who see the good in others.
Blessed are you peacemakers who never give up.
Blessed are you peacemakers who give and give and give.
Fr Paul Milanowski
Prayers of the Faithful
Priest: Jesus said: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers’. On this Peace Sunday, let us ask God to bless all those who work to bring peace in our world and to bestow that gift of peace wherever it is lacking in Church and society. The response to each intercession is: GRANT US YOUR PEACE.
Let us pray for ourselves. May we be gifted by the Spirit with the imagination, the words and the gestures which can bring peace where there is none.
Let us pray to the Lord: GRANT US YOUR PEACE.
In this ‘Year of Faith’, may the Church be renewed in its service of the Gospel. May we be preachers of peace and effective signs of God’s healing love in the world.
Let us pray to the Lord: GRANT US YOUR PEACE.
For those for who (like the wedding guests at Cana) feel that they have ‘no wine’, no joy in life and no resources with which to face the challenges before them: that the Lord may change sadness into joy and weariness into new hope.
Let us pray to the Lord: GRANT US YOUR PEACE.
For the peace of Jerusalem and for all the people of the Holy Land: that the wounds of hatred and division may be healed and that Jerusalem may be truly a ‘City of Peace’ for all. Let us pray to the Lord: GRANT US YOUR PEACE.
For reconciliation where there is conflict; for peace where there is fighting. We remember today especially [name a situation of oppression or violence in the news at the moment ...] Let us pray to the Lord: GRANT US YOUR PEACE.
For all who work for peace and justice; for all who live prophetically and take risks for peace. We ask God’s blessing today especially on the work of the international Catholic peace movement, Pax Christi.
Let us pray to the Lord: GRANT US YOUR PEACE.
Let us commend to God’s mercy all who are unwell (especially ……………………), that they might be restored to health; and all who have died (especially………………………….). May they be gathered, with people of every race and language and way of life, into the joy of God’s Kingdom.
Let us pray to the Lord: GRANT US YOUR PEACE.
In a moment of silence, let us place before the Lord our own thirst for peace …
Final Prayer: Lead us, Father, to the Wedding Feast of your Kingdom and help us to share that joy with all who are in need. Hear these our prayers, which we make through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Dear God,
For all who dream of peace,
for all who long for justice,
bend your ear to listen and your arm to save.
For all who faint from hunger,
for all who thirst for mercy,
give bread and grant freedom from all that binds and oppresses.
For all whose lives are intertwined with systems that harm -
systems that violate, exploit, exclude, objectify, and dominate -
inspire a longing for justice and the courage to break free from the
powers that oppress.
Set our feet on the paths of peace
and move our hands to do the work of justice.
May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven,
Amen
Titus Peachey, Director of Peace Education for Mennonite Central Committee USA
All material courtesy of Pax Christi UK