Section:
prayers
January 1
Environment:
Candles, globe or picture of Earth, names of countries in need of peace
Music Suggestions:
We Are Called (Haas)
Gospel Canticle (Any Version)
Prayer for Peace (Haas)
What Child Is This (GREENSLEEVES)
There Is Nothing Told (Willcock)
It Came Upon a Midnight Clear (Willis)
Sing Of The Lord’s Goodness (Sands)
Hark the Herald Angels Sing (Mendelssohn)
Lo, How A Rose E’er Blooming (ES IST EIN’ ROS’ ENTSPRUNGEN)
Psalm Suggestions:
62; 112; 119:1-16; 122; 147; 148; 149
Antiphons: See Christian Prayer (January 1)
Reading Suggestions:
Micah 6:6-8; Deut. 26:17-19; Luke 2:19-21; Luke 2:33-35
Gospel Canticle Antiphon:
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us now and at the hour of our death.
Intercessions: A Litany of Peacemakers from The Fire of Peace © 1992 published by Pax Christi USA, national Catholic peace movement, www.paxchristiusa.org. Used with permission.
Leader begins each invocation; all respond:
We pray to you, empower us to be peacemakers!
God, creator of the universe, author of our covenant of peace...
God, redeemer of the world, our way of peace...
God, sanctifier of conscience, gift of peace...
Mary, wellspring of reconciliation, mother of peacemakers...
Michael, our defender in the spiritual battle with forces of our own self-destruction...
Heavenly hosts, angelic warriors for universal peace...
Moses and Miriam, nonviolent liberators, architects and singers of the covenant of justice...
Isaiah, critic of militarism, prophet of peace...
Esther, intercessor for the powerless, emissary of peace...
Amos and Micah and Hosea, voices for the oppressed...
Jeremiah, doomsday seer, voice of lamentation...
Magdalene, faithful witness of Christ’s execution, first witness of his resurrection...
Peter and Paul, prisoners of conscience...
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, evangelists of the peaceable reign of God...
Felicity and Perpetua, midwives and mothers, sacrificed in the sport of a military empire...
Martin of Tours, conscientious objector...
Francis of Assisi, lover of creation, poor man with nothing to fight for...
Clare of Assisi, pacifier of armies with the power of the Eucharist...
Catherine of Siena, mystic diplomat, skilled negotiator...
Hildegarde of Bingen, mystic, lover of creation...
Gandhi, the Mahatma, nonviolent warrior...
Franz Jagerstatter resister for Christ...
Simone Weil, patroness of solidarity with the oppressed, fasting unto death with the hungry...
Martin Luther King, Jr., prophet and dreamer of the Beloved Community...
Thomas Merton, contemplative critic, mentor of peacemakers...
Pope John XXIII, herald of peace...
Pope Paul VI, apostle and teacher of peace...
Dorothy Day, lady poverty, mother of courage, witness to the radical gospel of peace...
Oscar Romero, shepherd of the poor, martyr for justice...
Maura, Ita, Jean, Dorothy, martyrs for the poor, handmaids of justice...
Saints of the Shaker, Mennonite, Quaker, and Church of the Brethren communions...
Children of light, transfigured in the fire-storms of Hiroshima and Nagasaki...
Children of darkness, transfigured in the night of torture and disappearance...
All you holy peacemakers, living and more living...
Jesus, Messiah, Prince of Peace...
Our Father
Sign of Peace
