Section:
prayers
August 6-9
Environment:
Place a bowl with water in the center of the prayer area.
Opening Reading:
August 6 - 9, 1945: More than 200,000 people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki lay dead from the use of the first atomic bombs. Since August 1945, many thousands more have died, and continue to die, from the radioactive fallout of the U.S. bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Reflection: Silent
Response:
Earth cries out - and now I lie pockmarked with craters, which run deep into the very core of my being, eternal stigmas bearing witness to your death machines
And millions of people lie dead, their life's breath extinguished.
In Hiroshima, in Nagasaki, hundreds of thousands unable to be laid to rest in my bosom. I could not embrace them!
My people, I longed to gather you to myself, to shield you, to protect you.
But all that remained of your humanity was a black charred mass.
Reprinted with permission by Pax Christi USA, national Catholic peace movement, www.paxchirstiusa.org. Used with permission.
Litany of Remembrance & Peace
Reader:
On July 16, 1945, the first atomic bomb test, code-named “Trinity,” took place in an area of desert in New Mexico called “Jornada del Muerto” - Journey of Death. “We knew the world would not be the same,” recalled J. Robert Oppenheimer, chief scientist of the Manhattan Project which developed the world's first atomic bomb. As he witnessed the first atomic test, Oppenheimer remembered the line from the Hindu Scripture, “Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.” Hiroshima and Nagasaki, three weeks later, foretold the world that we know and the society that we've become.
Response: We remember… we cry out for peace.
Reader:
On August 6, 1945, the first atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Hiroshima. The thermal flash and blast started fires that very quickly became a firestorm until the whole city was ablaze. Birds ignited in midair. People ran to the rivers to escape and soon the river became not a stream of flowing water but a stream of drifting dead bodies. Despite every horrifying statistic of violence and war we've ever heard, the account, statistics, and memory of that day 60 years ago are still devastating. Sixty percent of the city was destroyed -hospitals, hotels, rail stations, temples, factories, houses, and scores of other buildings reduced to flaming rubble. The next morning the sun rose and revealed the dawning of the nuclear age. Where the city once stood, was a wasteland of ashes and ruin.
Response: We remember...we cry out for peace.
Reader:
In every war lies the threat of another Hiroshima or Nagasaki. On this, the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the victims of the nuclear age and 59 years of war-making and nuclear weapons, cry out for peace and an end to the business of war. In memory of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we pray and act for peace and a future worthy of our hopes and the hopes and dreams of future generations.
All: We remember…we cry out for peace.
Adapted with permission from the August 9 commemoration in front of the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul in Philadelphia, sponsored by the Brandywine Peace Community and Catholic Peace Fellowship.
Reflection: Silent
Response: Revelation 21: 4-5
Ritual: As A sign of our belief in peace and justice, and our belief that new life will flow, come forward and dip your hand into the water. Bless yourself and pray for our Earth, the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and all people of the many countries where bombs are exploding daily.
Ritual adapted with permission by Pax Christi USA, national Catholic peace movement, www.paxchirstiusa.org. Used with permission.
Closing Prayer: “Prayer for Peace” John Paul II
Great and merciful God, Lord of peace and life,
You have plans for peace, and not affliction.
You condemn wars and defeat the pride of the violent.
You have plans for peace, and not affliction.
You condemn wars and defeat the pride of the violent.
You sent your son Jesus to preach peace to those near and far, to gather people of every race and nation into a single family. Hear the single-hearted cry of all humanity: NO MORE WAR, a spiral of death and violence, a threat against all your creatures in heaven, on earth and in the sea.
In communion with Mary, the Mother of Jesus,
Once again we implore you:
Speak to the hearts of those responsible for the fate of peoples, stop the 'logic” of revenge and retaliation,
with your Spirit suggest new solutions, generous and honorable gestures, room for dialogue and patient waiting
which are more fruitful than the hurried deadlines of war.
AMEN
Concluding Hymn: “God of Day and God of Darkness” vs 4-5
