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 much blood has been shed; how many lives have been shattered; how many hopes have been buried. But our efforts have been in vain.

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.

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 Peace. Amen.

– Invocation for Peace by Pope Francis