Long Form of 1986 Peace Prayers
The Hindu Prayer for Peace
May God protect us: may God nourish us.
May we work together with energy.
May our studies be fruitful.
May we love each other and live in peace.
Shanti, Shanti, Shanti unto all.
Be united: speak in harmony: let our minds apprehend alike.
Common be our resolution.
Common be our deliberations.
Alike be our feelings towards our fellow beings.
United be our hearts.
Common be our intentions: perfect be our unity for peace.
Shanti, Shanti, Shanti unto all.
May we hear with our ears what is auspicious.
May we see with our eyes what is auspicious.
May we sing the glory of God and enjoy a long and healthy life.
Shanti, Shanti, Shanti unto all.
Oh God, lead us from the unreal to the Real.
Oh God, lead us from darkness to light.
Oh God, lead us from death to immortality.
Shanti, Shanti, Shanti unto all.
(Taken From The Upanishads)
Let there be peace in the heavens: peace in the sky and on the earth:
Peace in waters:
Peace in herbs and plants:
Peace on all gods: peace unto all beings.
Shanti, Shanti, Shanti unto all.
(Taken From The Vedas)
We affirm our commitment to establish justice and peace
through the common effort of all religions of the world.
We, representatives of religions assembled here,
pray to God for justice between people through our common effort,
and we also pray for love and peace among all nations.
May Almighty God, the friend of all, be our peace.
May the Divine Judge be the Bestower of peace on us.
May the Supreme Controller of all be the Granter of peace to us.
May the Lord of all power and richness, the Master of all great beings, be for our peace.
May the Omnipresent God of unfathomable prowess be the Donor of peace to us.
Oh Lord God Almighty, may there be peace in celestial regions.
May there be peace on earth.
May the waters be appeasing.
May herbs be wholesome, and may trees and plants bring peace to all.
May all beneficent beings bring peace to us.
May thy Vedic Law propagate peace all through the world.
May all things be a source of peace to us.
And may thy peace itself bestow peace on all and may that peace come to me also.
(Taken From The Vedas)
The Buddhist Prayer for Peace
Through the virtue of this effort to enter into the ways leading to enlightenment, may all living beings come to engage in those conducts.
May all beings everywhere plagued with sufferings of body and mind,
obtain an ocean of happiness and joy by virtue of my merits.
For as long as they remain in cyclic existence, may their mundane happiness never decline,
and may all of them uninterruptedly receive waves of joy from Bodhisattvas.
May those feeble with cold find warmth,
and may those oppressed with heat be cooled by the boundless waters that pour forth from the great clouds of the Bodhisattva.
May all animals be free from fear of being eaten by one another.
May the hungry ghosts be as happy as the people of the northern continent.
May the blind see forms,
may the deaf hear sounds,
and just as it was with Mayadevi,
may pregnant women give birth without any pain.
May the naked find clothing,
the hungry find food:
may the forlorn find new hope, constant happiness and prosperity.
May all who are sick and ill quickly be freed from their illnesses,
and may every disease in the world never occur again.
May the frightened cease to be afraid and may those bound be free;
may the powerless find power,
and may people think of befriending one another.
May all travelers find happiness everywhere they go,
and without any effort may they accomplish whatever they set out to do.
May those who sail in ships and boats obtain whatever they wish for,
and having safely returned to the shore may they joyfully reunite with their relatives.
May the troubled wanderers who have lost their way meet with fellow travelers,
and without any fear of thieves and tigers, may their going be easy without any fatigue.
May those who find themselves in trackless, fearful wildernesses,
the children, the aged, the unprotected, those stupefied and insane,
be guarded by beneficent celestials.
May pregnant women give birth without any pain,
just like the treasury of space, and without it being the source of dispute or harm,
may they always enjoy it as they wish.
May all embodied creatures uninterruptedly hear the sound of Dharma issuing from birds and trees,
beams of light, and even space itself.
May celestials bring timely rains so that harvests may be bountiful.
May kings act in accordance with Dharma and the people of the world always prosper.
May no living creature ever suffer, commit evil or fall ill:
may no one be afraid or belittled or their minds ever be depressed.
May beings not experience the misery of lower realms,
and may they never know any hardships.
With a physical form superior to the gods, may they swiftly attain Buddhahood.
For as long as space endures and for as long as living beings remain,
until then may I too abide to dispel the misery of the world.
May all the pains of living creatures ripen solely upon myself,
and through the might of the Bodhisattva Sangha,
may all beings experience happiness.
(Taken From The Dedication Chapter of Engaging the Ways of the Bodhisattva, by the Eighth Century Buddhist Saint and Scholar Shantideva.)
The Jainist Prayer For Peace
Obeisance to the purist.
Obeisance to the emancipated.
Obeisance to the preceptors.
Obeisance to the religious teachers.
Obeisance to the ascetics of the whole world.
Peace and universal love is the essence of the gospel preached by all the enlightened ones of the past and also of the future.
Do not injure any living being.
This is the eternal, perennial and unalterable way of spiritual life.
One who indulges in violence will not get protection from abundance of wealth either in this life or in the next.
The Lord has preached that equanimity is the Dharma.
Forgive do I creatures all, and let all creatures forgive me.
Unto all have I amity and unto none enmity.
Bringer of peace to the world is Lord Shanti Natha who attained the supreme state.
Fears haunt those who live by the sword.
Whom thou intendest to strike is, in truth, none other than thyself.
Whom thou intendest to govern is, in truth, none other than thyself.
Whom thou intendest to torture is, in truth, none other than thyself.
Whom thou intendest to enslave is, in truth, none other than thyself.
Whom thou intendest to kill is, in truth, none other than thyself.
Know that violence is the root cause of all miseries in the world.
All beings desire to live, none desires to die; killing is, therefore, terrifying.
The believers in peace should never try.
A weapon, howsoever powerful it may be, can always be superseded by a superior one;
but no weapon can, however, be superior to nonviolence and love.
Violence, in fact, is the knot of bondage.
It, in fact, is delusion.
It, in fact, is death.
It, in fact, is hell.
May the Lord, supreme in the universe be pleased to bestow on us,
health and enlightenment and the supreme bliss, peace.
The Muslim Prayer For Peace
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.
Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Universe, the Beneficent, the Merciful, Ruler on the day for repayment.
You do we worship and you do we call on for help.
Guide us along the straight road, the road of those whom you have favored,
with whom you are not angry, nor who are lost.
(Taken From The Fatiha, The Opening Chapter Of The Holy Qur'an)
Say ye: we believe in God, and the revelation given to us, and that given to all prophets from their Lord:
we make no difference between one and the other of them, and we bow to God in Islam.
(Sura 11, v 136)
O humankind, reverence your Guardian-Lord who created you from a single person,
created of like nature his mate, and from them twain scattered like seeds
countless men and women. Reverence God through whom ye demand your mutual
rights, and reverence the wombs that bore you: For God ever watches over you.
(Sura lv, v 1)
O ye who believe, when you go abroad in the cause of God, investigate carefully and
say not to anyone who offers you a salutation: Thou art none of a believer.
Coveting the perishable goods of this life; with God are profits and spoils abundant.
Even thus were ye yourselves before, till God conferred on you divine favors:
therefore carefully investigate for God is well aware of all that ye do.
(Sura lv, v. 94)
But if the enemy incline towards peace, do thou also incline towards peace and trust in God:
for the Lord is the one that heareth and knoweth all things.
(Sura vlll, v. 61)
And the servants of God the Most Gracious, are those who walk on the
earth in humility, and when we address them we say, Peace.
(Sura xxv, v 63)
O humankind, we created you from a single pair of a male and a female
and made you into tribes and nations, that ye may know each other,
not that ye may despise each other.
Verily the most honored of you in the sight of God is the most righteous of you.
And God has full knowledge and is well acquainted with all things.
(Sura xlix. v 13) top
The Sikh Prayer for Peace
God adjudges us according to our deeds, not the coat that we wear;
that truth is above everything, but higher still is truthful living.
Guru Nanak preached that if there is one God, the creator and sustainer of us all,
then humankind also is one, irrespective of creed, caste, color, or nationality.
Whom shall I call bad, he said, When there is no one other than Thee.
It was Guru Gobind Singh who said: Know that we attaineth God when
we loveth and also only that victory endures in consequence of which no one is
defeated.
Ego or Iamness, said Guru Nanak, is the greatest malady of
humankind and nations, and forgiveness and self-surrender the greatest
virtues.
The God who is eternally true, our father and mother, could not
create a world that is false, evil or sinful. God sends us out, not to punish,
but to reclaim us; and the human births God bestows on us is a reward of our
piety and good works in the past. Even the angels crave for the body of a human
being says the Sikh scripture.
God created the world to express thy beauty, holiness and power.
From here there is no fall for humankind or hell or a lower form of life.
There is only the leap forward into the life of higher consciousness.
That is why God, the most compassionate, gives us many human births till we attain our ultimate goal,
which is to be like unto God, and merge finally in our primal source:
The rays merge with the sun,
The drop merges in the sea,
The light merges in the light,
And we are fulfilled.
Let us faithful, of every denomination under one God, therefore, pray along with the Sikh mystic who said:
One who has enough seeks more and more, while one who has nothing is denied one's share and sent to thy door.
Oh God, save us not for the hereafter, but now, and from ourselves: I would not ask for anything more.
The Bahai' Prayer For Peace
Be generous in prosperity, and thankful in adversity.
Be worthy of the trust of thy neighbor, and look upon others with a bright and friendly face.
Be a treasure to the poor, an admonisher to the rich, an answerer of the cry of the needy,
and a preserver of the sanctity of thy pledge.
Be fair in thy judgement, and guarded in thy speech.
Be unjust to no one, and show meekness to all.
Be as a lamp unto those who walk in darkness, a joy for the sorrowful,
a sea for the thirsty, a haven for the distressed,
and an upholder and defender of the victim of oppression.
Let integrity and uprightness distinguish all thine acts.
Be a home for the stranger, a balm to the suffering, a tower of strength for the fugitive,
be eyes to the blind, and a guiding light unto the feet of the erring.
Be an ornament to the countenance of truth, a crown to the brow of fidelity,
a pillar of the temple of righteousness, a breath of life to the body of humankind,
an ensign of the hosts of justice, a luminary above the horizon of virtue,
a dew to the soil of the human heart, and an ark on the ocean of knowledge.
Be a sun in the heaven of bounty, a gem on the diadem of wisdom,
a shining light in the firmament of thy generation, and a fruit upon the tree of humility.
The Shinto Prayer for Peace
Humankind has committed the error to contend among rival faiths in its long history.
It should be the primary duty of the religions toward the present world and humanity,
to further strengthen their sense of solidarity,
and recognize that their earnest prayers are the same.
Now we, the men and women of the different forms of religion in the world,
gather on this sacred ground at the Basilica of Saint Francis to pray for peace.
In representing those who profess Shintoism, which is the traditional religion of Japan,
in offering my earnest prayer for peace,
I would like to recite two odes composed respectively by the emperors past and present.
Although the people living across the ocean surrounding us, I believe, are all our brothers and sisters,
why are there constant troubles in this world? Why do winds and waves rise in the ocean surrounding us?
I only earnestly wish that the wind will soon puff away all the clouds which are hanging over the tops
of the mountains.
The Native African Prayer For Peace
Almighty God, the Great Thumb we cannot evade to tie any knot;
the Roaring Thunder that splits mighty trees;
the All-seeing Lord up on high who sees even the footprints of an antelope on a rockmass here on earth.
You are the one who does not hesitate to respond to our call; you are the cornerstone of peace.
We call upon you all today for one main reason, our world is devoid of peace.
We are surrounded by constant wars and contentions.
We need peace.
This has prompted the Holy Father to invite all religions of the world to come together to pray for peace.
We pray, therefore, for world peace. Let peace reign in the Vatican.
Grant peace to Africa.
Grant peace to individuals, to homes and families and extend the same to all corners of the world.
We pray for long life, wisdom, peace, prudence and courage for his Holiness Pope John Paul II and his advisors.
Shower blessings on them.
Silent be all persons who frustrate this laudable effort made to achieve peace.
May your blessings be manifold upon all those who support and strive for peace.
Finally, to you we pray, but in few words: you protected and brought us safely here: do bring us safely back home.
Let all the evil ancestors and spirits receive their drink and flee to their doom.
But you, the good spirits and ancestors whom we have called, receive our drinks, bless us abundantly, and grant us peace.
The Native American Prayer For Peace
This pipe was given to my people by the creator, for peace and friendship,
so I offer it to you my brothers and sisters of this world, as we pray together for peace.
Using the pipe in the presence of the Creator and with all creation, we offer our prayers to the Great Spirit,
to Mother Earth and to the four winds.
And we offer a prayer of thanks and blessings for the purpose of this ceremony.
I pray that we all may commit ourselves to pray and to work for peace within our families, our tribes and our nations.
I pray for all our brothers and sisters walking our Mother Earth.
O Great Spirit, this is my prayer.
Help me to feel thine urge and thy message.
Help me to be just and at all times help me to be kind.
If my brothers and sisters are weak and faltering,
help me to the good thoughts, and show me the way that I may help them.
Move me so that I may find a way to help all those who are in need.
O Great Spirit, I pray for your blessing.
I pray that you bring peace to all my brothers and sisters of this world.
I pray that you give us the knowledge to live as brothers and sisters and to love one another.
O Great Spirit of our ancestors, I raise my pipe to you,
to your messengers the four winds, and to Mother Earth who provides for your children.
Give us the wisdom to teach our children to love, to respect, and to be kind to each other,
so that they may grow with peace in mind.
Let us learn to share all the good things that you provide for us on this earth.
O Great Spirit, bless all those that are here with me today to pray for world peace.
And bless the Holy Father for bringing us all together for this day of prayer.
The Zoroastrian Prayer for Peace
We pray to God to eradicate all the misery in the world;
that understanding triumph over ignorance,
that generosity triumph over indifference,
that trust triumph over contempt,
and that truth triumph over falsehood.
I solemnly dedicate myself to the truth,
to the true spoken word, to true action.
I dedicate myself to reason which causes peace and teaches self-sacrifice.
Through the cooperation of all the peoples of the world, may we all be one in justice,
and may we all benefit from each other and help all those that are in need.
Through words and deeds, make in me a peaceful attitude toward all,
seeking to renew my life and make it as you wish it, a life of truth.
The Jewish Prayer for Peace
Our God in Heaven, the Lord of Peace will have compassion and mercy upon us,
and upon all the peoples of the earth who implore thy mercy and thy compassion,
asking for peace, seeking peace.
Our God in Heaven, give us the strength to act, to work, and to live until the spirit from above
manifests itself upon us, and the desert becomes a vineyard, and the vineyard is seen as a forest.
Justice will have a home in the desert and charity will have a dwelling in the vineyard.
The action of justice will produce peace, and the work of justice will yield tranquility and security forever.
And my people will be surrounded by peace, in safe dwellings, and places of repose undisturbed.
And so, O Lord our God and God of our ancestors,
bring to fulfillment for us and for all the world the promise you made through your prophet Micah:
It shall come to pass in the latter days
that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
and shall be raised above the hills and people shall flow to it, and many nations shall come and say:
Come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob,
that God may teach us divine ways, and we may walk the paths of the Most High."
For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
God shall judge between many peoples, and shall decide for strong nations afar off.
And they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks:
nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more;
but they shall sit, every one under their vine and under their fig tree, and none shall be afraid:
for the mouth of the Lord of Hosts has spoken.
O Lord in Heaven, give peace to the earth,
give well-being to the world, establish tranquility in our dwellings.
And let us say Amen.
The Christian Prayer For Peace
The Spirit of God, which we believe is the Spirit which brings Unity to all, through the bond of peace
is one of God's gifts.
(cf. Eph 4:3, Gal 5:22)
Thus, because of our own distinctive profession of faith, we are called to be peacemakers
and we shall be blessed if so we do.
(cf. Matt 5:9)
Our religious commitment to peace implies a simultaneous commitment to justice,
namely, not only in respect for, but also in the promotion of, the true dignity of all men and women created in the image of God.
(cf. Gen 1:26)
The Peace of God which surpasses all understanding,
calls for our response to be personal and communitarian, in faith, hope and love; in prayer, action and suffering.
That is why we are here.
(cf. Phil 4:7)
A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke:
How happy are you who are poor. But alas for you who are rich.
Jesus lifted up his eyes on his disciples and said:
Blessed are you poor, for yours is the Kingdom of God.
Blessed are you that hunger now, for you shall be satisfied.
Blessed are you that weep now, for you shall laugh.
Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you
and revile you and cast out your name as evil on account of the Son of God.
Rejoice on that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven;
for so their ancestors did to the prophets.
But woe to you that are rich, for you have received your consolation.
Woe to you that are full now, for you shall hunger.
Woe to you that laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.
Woe to you when people speak well of you,
for so their ancestors did to the false prophets.
But I say to you that hear:
Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.
To those who strike you on the cheek, offer the other also;
and from those who take away your cloak, do not withhold your coat as well.
Give to every one who begs from you: and of those who take away your goods, do not ask them again.
And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.
Amen.
- Prayers copied from archives of The Peace Abbey, Sherborn, MA http://www.peaceabbey.org
May God protect us: may God nourish us.
May we work together with energy.
May our studies be fruitful.
May we love each other and live in peace.
Shanti, Shanti, Shanti unto all.
Be united: speak in harmony: let our minds apprehend alike.
Common be our resolution.
Common be our deliberations.
Alike be our feelings towards our fellow beings.
United be our hearts.
Common be our intentions: perfect be our unity for peace.
Shanti, Shanti, Shanti unto all.
May we hear with our ears what is auspicious.
May we see with our eyes what is auspicious.
May we sing the glory of God and enjoy a long and healthy life.
Shanti, Shanti, Shanti unto all.
Oh God, lead us from the unreal to the Real.
Oh God, lead us from darkness to light.
Oh God, lead us from death to immortality.
Shanti, Shanti, Shanti unto all.
(Taken From The Upanishads)
Let there be peace in the heavens: peace in the sky and on the earth:
Peace in waters:
Peace in herbs and plants:
Peace on all gods: peace unto all beings.
Shanti, Shanti, Shanti unto all.
(Taken From The Vedas)
We affirm our commitment to establish justice and peace
through the common effort of all religions of the world.
We, representatives of religions assembled here,
pray to God for justice between people through our common effort,
and we also pray for love and peace among all nations.
May Almighty God, the friend of all, be our peace.
May the Divine Judge be the Bestower of peace on us.
May the Supreme Controller of all be the Granter of peace to us.
May the Lord of all power and richness, the Master of all great beings, be for our peace.
May the Omnipresent God of unfathomable prowess be the Donor of peace to us.
Oh Lord God Almighty, may there be peace in celestial regions.
May there be peace on earth.
May the waters be appeasing.
May herbs be wholesome, and may trees and plants bring peace to all.
May all beneficent beings bring peace to us.
May thy Vedic Law propagate peace all through the world.
May all things be a source of peace to us.
And may thy peace itself bestow peace on all and may that peace come to me also.
(Taken From The Vedas)
The Buddhist Prayer for Peace
Through the virtue of this effort to enter into the ways leading to enlightenment, may all living beings come to engage in those conducts.
May all beings everywhere plagued with sufferings of body and mind,
obtain an ocean of happiness and joy by virtue of my merits.
For as long as they remain in cyclic existence, may their mundane happiness never decline,
and may all of them uninterruptedly receive waves of joy from Bodhisattvas.
May those feeble with cold find warmth,
and may those oppressed with heat be cooled by the boundless waters that pour forth from the great clouds of the Bodhisattva.
May all animals be free from fear of being eaten by one another.
May the hungry ghosts be as happy as the people of the northern continent.
May the blind see forms,
may the deaf hear sounds,
and just as it was with Mayadevi,
may pregnant women give birth without any pain.
May the naked find clothing,
the hungry find food:
may the forlorn find new hope, constant happiness and prosperity.
May all who are sick and ill quickly be freed from their illnesses,
and may every disease in the world never occur again.
May the frightened cease to be afraid and may those bound be free;
may the powerless find power,
and may people think of befriending one another.
May all travelers find happiness everywhere they go,
and without any effort may they accomplish whatever they set out to do.
May those who sail in ships and boats obtain whatever they wish for,
and having safely returned to the shore may they joyfully reunite with their relatives.
May the troubled wanderers who have lost their way meet with fellow travelers,
and without any fear of thieves and tigers, may their going be easy without any fatigue.
May those who find themselves in trackless, fearful wildernesses,
the children, the aged, the unprotected, those stupefied and insane,
be guarded by beneficent celestials.
May pregnant women give birth without any pain,
just like the treasury of space, and without it being the source of dispute or harm,
may they always enjoy it as they wish.
May all embodied creatures uninterruptedly hear the sound of Dharma issuing from birds and trees,
beams of light, and even space itself.
May celestials bring timely rains so that harvests may be bountiful.
May kings act in accordance with Dharma and the people of the world always prosper.
May no living creature ever suffer, commit evil or fall ill:
may no one be afraid or belittled or their minds ever be depressed.
May beings not experience the misery of lower realms,
and may they never know any hardships.
With a physical form superior to the gods, may they swiftly attain Buddhahood.
For as long as space endures and for as long as living beings remain,
until then may I too abide to dispel the misery of the world.
May all the pains of living creatures ripen solely upon myself,
and through the might of the Bodhisattva Sangha,
may all beings experience happiness.
(Taken From The Dedication Chapter of Engaging the Ways of the Bodhisattva, by the Eighth Century Buddhist Saint and Scholar Shantideva.)
The Jainist Prayer For Peace
Obeisance to the purist.
Obeisance to the emancipated.
Obeisance to the preceptors.
Obeisance to the religious teachers.
Obeisance to the ascetics of the whole world.
Peace and universal love is the essence of the gospel preached by all the enlightened ones of the past and also of the future.
Do not injure any living being.
This is the eternal, perennial and unalterable way of spiritual life.
One who indulges in violence will not get protection from abundance of wealth either in this life or in the next.
The Lord has preached that equanimity is the Dharma.
Forgive do I creatures all, and let all creatures forgive me.
Unto all have I amity and unto none enmity.
Bringer of peace to the world is Lord Shanti Natha who attained the supreme state.
Fears haunt those who live by the sword.
Whom thou intendest to strike is, in truth, none other than thyself.
Whom thou intendest to govern is, in truth, none other than thyself.
Whom thou intendest to torture is, in truth, none other than thyself.
Whom thou intendest to enslave is, in truth, none other than thyself.
Whom thou intendest to kill is, in truth, none other than thyself.
Know that violence is the root cause of all miseries in the world.
All beings desire to live, none desires to die; killing is, therefore, terrifying.
The believers in peace should never try.
A weapon, howsoever powerful it may be, can always be superseded by a superior one;
but no weapon can, however, be superior to nonviolence and love.
Violence, in fact, is the knot of bondage.
It, in fact, is delusion.
It, in fact, is death.
It, in fact, is hell.
May the Lord, supreme in the universe be pleased to bestow on us,
health and enlightenment and the supreme bliss, peace.
The Muslim Prayer For Peace
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.
Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Universe, the Beneficent, the Merciful, Ruler on the day for repayment.
You do we worship and you do we call on for help.
Guide us along the straight road, the road of those whom you have favored,
with whom you are not angry, nor who are lost.
(Taken From The Fatiha, The Opening Chapter Of The Holy Qur'an)
Say ye: we believe in God, and the revelation given to us, and that given to all prophets from their Lord:
we make no difference between one and the other of them, and we bow to God in Islam.
(Sura 11, v 136)
O humankind, reverence your Guardian-Lord who created you from a single person,
created of like nature his mate, and from them twain scattered like seeds
countless men and women. Reverence God through whom ye demand your mutual
rights, and reverence the wombs that bore you: For God ever watches over you.
(Sura lv, v 1)
O ye who believe, when you go abroad in the cause of God, investigate carefully and
say not to anyone who offers you a salutation: Thou art none of a believer.
Coveting the perishable goods of this life; with God are profits and spoils abundant.
Even thus were ye yourselves before, till God conferred on you divine favors:
therefore carefully investigate for God is well aware of all that ye do.
(Sura lv, v. 94)
But if the enemy incline towards peace, do thou also incline towards peace and trust in God:
for the Lord is the one that heareth and knoweth all things.
(Sura vlll, v. 61)
And the servants of God the Most Gracious, are those who walk on the
earth in humility, and when we address them we say, Peace.
(Sura xxv, v 63)
O humankind, we created you from a single pair of a male and a female
and made you into tribes and nations, that ye may know each other,
not that ye may despise each other.
Verily the most honored of you in the sight of God is the most righteous of you.
And God has full knowledge and is well acquainted with all things.
(Sura xlix. v 13) top
The Sikh Prayer for Peace
God adjudges us according to our deeds, not the coat that we wear;
that truth is above everything, but higher still is truthful living.
Guru Nanak preached that if there is one God, the creator and sustainer of us all,
then humankind also is one, irrespective of creed, caste, color, or nationality.
Whom shall I call bad, he said, When there is no one other than Thee.
It was Guru Gobind Singh who said: Know that we attaineth God when
we loveth and also only that victory endures in consequence of which no one is
defeated.
Ego or Iamness, said Guru Nanak, is the greatest malady of
humankind and nations, and forgiveness and self-surrender the greatest
virtues.
The God who is eternally true, our father and mother, could not
create a world that is false, evil or sinful. God sends us out, not to punish,
but to reclaim us; and the human births God bestows on us is a reward of our
piety and good works in the past. Even the angels crave for the body of a human
being says the Sikh scripture.
God created the world to express thy beauty, holiness and power.
From here there is no fall for humankind or hell or a lower form of life.
There is only the leap forward into the life of higher consciousness.
That is why God, the most compassionate, gives us many human births till we attain our ultimate goal,
which is to be like unto God, and merge finally in our primal source:
The rays merge with the sun,
The drop merges in the sea,
The light merges in the light,
And we are fulfilled.
Let us faithful, of every denomination under one God, therefore, pray along with the Sikh mystic who said:
One who has enough seeks more and more, while one who has nothing is denied one's share and sent to thy door.
Oh God, save us not for the hereafter, but now, and from ourselves: I would not ask for anything more.
The Bahai' Prayer For Peace
Be generous in prosperity, and thankful in adversity.
Be worthy of the trust of thy neighbor, and look upon others with a bright and friendly face.
Be a treasure to the poor, an admonisher to the rich, an answerer of the cry of the needy,
and a preserver of the sanctity of thy pledge.
Be fair in thy judgement, and guarded in thy speech.
Be unjust to no one, and show meekness to all.
Be as a lamp unto those who walk in darkness, a joy for the sorrowful,
a sea for the thirsty, a haven for the distressed,
and an upholder and defender of the victim of oppression.
Let integrity and uprightness distinguish all thine acts.
Be a home for the stranger, a balm to the suffering, a tower of strength for the fugitive,
be eyes to the blind, and a guiding light unto the feet of the erring.
Be an ornament to the countenance of truth, a crown to the brow of fidelity,
a pillar of the temple of righteousness, a breath of life to the body of humankind,
an ensign of the hosts of justice, a luminary above the horizon of virtue,
a dew to the soil of the human heart, and an ark on the ocean of knowledge.
Be a sun in the heaven of bounty, a gem on the diadem of wisdom,
a shining light in the firmament of thy generation, and a fruit upon the tree of humility.
The Shinto Prayer for Peace
Humankind has committed the error to contend among rival faiths in its long history.
It should be the primary duty of the religions toward the present world and humanity,
to further strengthen their sense of solidarity,
and recognize that their earnest prayers are the same.
Now we, the men and women of the different forms of religion in the world,
gather on this sacred ground at the Basilica of Saint Francis to pray for peace.
In representing those who profess Shintoism, which is the traditional religion of Japan,
in offering my earnest prayer for peace,
I would like to recite two odes composed respectively by the emperors past and present.
Although the people living across the ocean surrounding us, I believe, are all our brothers and sisters,
why are there constant troubles in this world? Why do winds and waves rise in the ocean surrounding us?
I only earnestly wish that the wind will soon puff away all the clouds which are hanging over the tops
of the mountains.
The Native African Prayer For Peace
Almighty God, the Great Thumb we cannot evade to tie any knot;
the Roaring Thunder that splits mighty trees;
the All-seeing Lord up on high who sees even the footprints of an antelope on a rockmass here on earth.
You are the one who does not hesitate to respond to our call; you are the cornerstone of peace.
We call upon you all today for one main reason, our world is devoid of peace.
We are surrounded by constant wars and contentions.
We need peace.
This has prompted the Holy Father to invite all religions of the world to come together to pray for peace.
We pray, therefore, for world peace. Let peace reign in the Vatican.
Grant peace to Africa.
Grant peace to individuals, to homes and families and extend the same to all corners of the world.
We pray for long life, wisdom, peace, prudence and courage for his Holiness Pope John Paul II and his advisors.
Shower blessings on them.
Silent be all persons who frustrate this laudable effort made to achieve peace.
May your blessings be manifold upon all those who support and strive for peace.
Finally, to you we pray, but in few words: you protected and brought us safely here: do bring us safely back home.
Let all the evil ancestors and spirits receive their drink and flee to their doom.
But you, the good spirits and ancestors whom we have called, receive our drinks, bless us abundantly, and grant us peace.
The Native American Prayer For Peace
This pipe was given to my people by the creator, for peace and friendship,
so I offer it to you my brothers and sisters of this world, as we pray together for peace.
Using the pipe in the presence of the Creator and with all creation, we offer our prayers to the Great Spirit,
to Mother Earth and to the four winds.
And we offer a prayer of thanks and blessings for the purpose of this ceremony.
I pray that we all may commit ourselves to pray and to work for peace within our families, our tribes and our nations.
I pray for all our brothers and sisters walking our Mother Earth.
O Great Spirit, this is my prayer.
Help me to feel thine urge and thy message.
Help me to be just and at all times help me to be kind.
If my brothers and sisters are weak and faltering,
help me to the good thoughts, and show me the way that I may help them.
Move me so that I may find a way to help all those who are in need.
O Great Spirit, I pray for your blessing.
I pray that you bring peace to all my brothers and sisters of this world.
I pray that you give us the knowledge to live as brothers and sisters and to love one another.
O Great Spirit of our ancestors, I raise my pipe to you,
to your messengers the four winds, and to Mother Earth who provides for your children.
Give us the wisdom to teach our children to love, to respect, and to be kind to each other,
so that they may grow with peace in mind.
Let us learn to share all the good things that you provide for us on this earth.
O Great Spirit, bless all those that are here with me today to pray for world peace.
And bless the Holy Father for bringing us all together for this day of prayer.
The Zoroastrian Prayer for Peace
We pray to God to eradicate all the misery in the world;
that understanding triumph over ignorance,
that generosity triumph over indifference,
that trust triumph over contempt,
and that truth triumph over falsehood.
I solemnly dedicate myself to the truth,
to the true spoken word, to true action.
I dedicate myself to reason which causes peace and teaches self-sacrifice.
Through the cooperation of all the peoples of the world, may we all be one in justice,
and may we all benefit from each other and help all those that are in need.
Through words and deeds, make in me a peaceful attitude toward all,
seeking to renew my life and make it as you wish it, a life of truth.
The Jewish Prayer for Peace
Our God in Heaven, the Lord of Peace will have compassion and mercy upon us,
and upon all the peoples of the earth who implore thy mercy and thy compassion,
asking for peace, seeking peace.
Our God in Heaven, give us the strength to act, to work, and to live until the spirit from above
manifests itself upon us, and the desert becomes a vineyard, and the vineyard is seen as a forest.
Justice will have a home in the desert and charity will have a dwelling in the vineyard.
The action of justice will produce peace, and the work of justice will yield tranquility and security forever.
And my people will be surrounded by peace, in safe dwellings, and places of repose undisturbed.
And so, O Lord our God and God of our ancestors,
bring to fulfillment for us and for all the world the promise you made through your prophet Micah:
It shall come to pass in the latter days
that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
and shall be raised above the hills and people shall flow to it, and many nations shall come and say:
Come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob,
that God may teach us divine ways, and we may walk the paths of the Most High."
For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
God shall judge between many peoples, and shall decide for strong nations afar off.
And they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks:
nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more;
but they shall sit, every one under their vine and under their fig tree, and none shall be afraid:
for the mouth of the Lord of Hosts has spoken.
O Lord in Heaven, give peace to the earth,
give well-being to the world, establish tranquility in our dwellings.
And let us say Amen.
The Christian Prayer For Peace
The Spirit of God, which we believe is the Spirit which brings Unity to all, through the bond of peace
is one of God's gifts.
(cf. Eph 4:3, Gal 5:22)
Thus, because of our own distinctive profession of faith, we are called to be peacemakers
and we shall be blessed if so we do.
(cf. Matt 5:9)
Our religious commitment to peace implies a simultaneous commitment to justice,
namely, not only in respect for, but also in the promotion of, the true dignity of all men and women created in the image of God.
(cf. Gen 1:26)
The Peace of God which surpasses all understanding,
calls for our response to be personal and communitarian, in faith, hope and love; in prayer, action and suffering.
That is why we are here.
(cf. Phil 4:7)
A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke:
How happy are you who are poor. But alas for you who are rich.
Jesus lifted up his eyes on his disciples and said:
Blessed are you poor, for yours is the Kingdom of God.
Blessed are you that hunger now, for you shall be satisfied.
Blessed are you that weep now, for you shall laugh.
Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you
and revile you and cast out your name as evil on account of the Son of God.
Rejoice on that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven;
for so their ancestors did to the prophets.
But woe to you that are rich, for you have received your consolation.
Woe to you that are full now, for you shall hunger.
Woe to you that laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.
Woe to you when people speak well of you,
for so their ancestors did to the false prophets.
But I say to you that hear:
Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.
To those who strike you on the cheek, offer the other also;
and from those who take away your cloak, do not withhold your coat as well.
Give to every one who begs from you: and of those who take away your goods, do not ask them again.
And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.
Amen.
- Prayers copied from archives of The Peace Abbey, Sherborn, MA http://www.peaceabbey.org