Prayer of The Day
Prayers Of Peace
Fear less, hope more;
Whine less, breathe more;
Talk less, say more;
Hate less, love more;
And all good things are yours.
- Swedish Proverb
Darkness cannot drive out darkness;
Only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate;
Only love can do that.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
If we agree to love,
there is no disagreement that can do us any injury,
but if we do not,
no other agreement can do us any good.
Let us endeavor to keep the unity of the spirit
in the bonds of peace.
- Hosea Ballou
Send Thy peace O Lord, which is
Perfect and everlasting,
That our souls may radiate peace.
Send Thy peace O Lord, that we
May think, act and speak harmoniously.
Send Thy peace O Lord, that we
May be contented and thankful for
Thy bountiful gifts.
Send Thy peace O Lord, that amidst
Our worldly strife, we may enjoy Thy bliss.
Send Thy peace O Lord, that we
May endure all, tolerate all, in the thought of
Thy grace and mercy.
Send Thy peace O Lord, that our lives
May become a Divine vision and in Thy light,
All darkness may vanish.
Send Thy peace O Lord, our Father and Mother,
That we Thy children on Earth may all
Unite in one family.
"Prayer for Peace" - Hazrat Inayat Khan
May the Love which overcomes all differences,
Which heals all wounds,
Which puts to flight all fears,
Which reconciles all who are separated,
Be in us and among us
Now and always.
- Frederick E. Gillis
This is my song, O God of all nations,
A song of peace for lands afar and mine.
This is my home, the country where my heart is,
Here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine;
But other hearts in other lands are beating
With hopes and dreams as true as mine.
My country's skies are bluer than the ocean,
And sunlight beams on cloverleaf and pine;
But other lands have sunlight too, and clover,
And skies are everywhere as blue as mine,
O hear my song, thou God of all the nations,
A song of peace for their land and for mine.
- Lloyd Stone
We'll build a land where we bind up the broken.
We'll build a land where the captives go free,
Where the oil of gladness solves all mourning.
Oh, we'll build a promised land that can be.
Come build a land where sisters and brothers,
Anointed by God, may then create peace:
Where justice shall roll down like waters,
And peace like an ever flowing stream.
- Barbara Zanotti
(Isaiah/Amos), adapt.
Let us labor in hope
for the dawning of a new day
without hatred, violence, and injustice.
- Phillip Hewett
Love is the one business in which
it pays to be an absolute spendthrift:
give it away;
throw it away;
splash it over;
empty your pockets
shake the basket
and tomorrow you'll have even more than ever.
- From "God's Little Instruction Book for New Believers"
Nothing is more barbarous than war,
Nothing is more miserable...
Nothing is more precious than peace.
Nothing brings more happiness.
Peace is the most basic starting point
For the advancement of humankind.
- Daisaku Ikeda
This is my simple religion.
There is no need for temples;
No need for complicated philosophy.
Our own brain, our own heart is our temple;
The philosophy is kindness.
- Dalai Lama
There is no way to peace;
Peace is the way.
- A.J. Muste
Keep alert,
Stand firm in your faith;
Be corageous,
Be strong,
Let all that you do
Be done in love.
- I Corinthians 16
"Let us therefore no longer pass judgement on one another, but resolve instead never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of another."
- The Bible, Romans 14:13
O Holy God,
may we love and respect all your creation,
all the earth and every grain of sand in it.
May we love every leaf,
every ray of your light.
May we love the animals:
you have given them the rudiments of thought and joy untroubled.
Let us not trouble them;
Let us not harass them,
let us not deprive them of their happiness,
let us not work against your intentions.
For we acknowledge that to withhold any measure of love from anything
in the universe is to withhold that same measure from you.
- Fyodor Dostoyevsky
May every creature abound in well-being and peace.
May every living being, weak or strong, the long, and the small,
the short and the medium sized, the mean and the great,
May every living being seen or unseen, those dwelling far off,
those living near by, those already born, those waiting to be born,
May all attain inward peace.
Let no one deceive another. Let no one despise another in any situation.
Let no one, from antipathy or hatred, wish evil to anyone at all.
Just as a mother, with her own life, protects her only child from hurt,
so within yourself foster a limitless concern for every living creature.
Display a heart of boundless love for all the world in all its
height and depth and broad extent,
Love unrestrained, without hate or enmity.
Then as you stand or walk, sit or lie, until overcome with drowsiness,
devote your mind entirely to this:
It is known as living the life divine.
- Buddhist
Where hate rules, let us bring love;
where sorrow, joy.
Let us strive more to comfort
others than to be comforted,
to understand others,
than to be understood,
to love others more than to be loved.
For it is in giving that we receive,
and in pardoning that we are pardoned.
- Attributed to St. Francis of Assisi
As we are together praying for Peace,
let us be truly with eachother...
(silence)
Let us be aware of the source of being common to us all
and to all living things.
(silence)
Envoking the presence of the Great Compassion,
let us fill our hearts with our own compassion -
towards ourselves and toward all living beings.
(silence)
Let us pray that all living beings realize
that they are all brothers and sisters,
all nourished from the same source of life.
(silence)
Let us pray that we ourselves
cease to be the cause of suffering to each other.
(silence)
Let us plead with ourselves
to live in a way which will not deprive other living beings
of air, water, food, shelter, or the chance to live.
(silence)
With humility, with awareness of the existance of life,
and of the sufferings that are going on around us,
let us pray for the establishment of
peace in our hearts and on earth. Amen.
- From A Buddhist Litany For Peace - Thich Nhat Nanh
Spirit of Community, in which we share and find strength and common purpose, we turn our minds and hearts toward one another seeking to bring into our circle of concern all who need our love and support: those who are ill, those who are in pain, either in body or in spirit, those who are lonely, those who have been wronged.
We are part of a web of life that makes us one with all humanity, one with all the universe.
We are grateful for the miracle of consciousness that we share, the consciousness that gives us the power to remember, to love, to care.
- Frederick E. Gillis
In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.
I simply can't build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery and death.
I see the world gradually being turned into a wilderness,
I hear the ever-approaching thunder, which will destroy us, too,
I can feel the suffering of millions, and yet, if I look up into the heavens,
I think that it will all come out right, that this cruelty will end, and that peace and tranquility will return again.
In the meantime, I must hold up my ideals for perhaps the time will come when I shall be able to carry them out.
- Anne Frank
Let your love flow outward through the universe,
To its height, its depth, its broad extent,
A limitless love, without hatred or enmity.
Then as you stand or walk,
Sit or lie down,
As long as you are awake,
Strive for this with a one-pointed mind;
Your life will bring heaven to earth.
Sutta Nipata
Buddha's Discourse on Good Will
Let there be peace in the sky and in the atmosphere, peace in the plant world and in the forests;
Let the cosmic powers be peaceful;
let Brahma be peaceful;
Let there be undiluted and fulfilling peace everywhere.
- Atharva Veda
(I believe this is of Hindu origin.)
Be ye all of one mind,
having compassion for one another,
love as bretheren,
be considerate, be courteous,
not rendering evil for evil, or insult for insult:
but instead, blessing.
- The Bible, I Peter 3:8-9
We can never make the world safe by fighting.
Every nation must learn that the people of all nations are children of God, and must share the wealth of the world.
You may say this is impracticable, far away, can never be accomplished, but it is the work we are appointed to do.
Sometime, somehow, somewhere, we must ever teach this great lesson.
- Olympia Brown
I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
- From Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech.
Love cannot remain by itself-it has no meaning.
Love has to be put into action and that action is service.
Whatever form we are,
able or disabled,
rich or poor,
it is not how much we do,
but how much love we put in the doing;
a lifelong sharing of love with others.
- Mother Teresa
When all the people of the world love,
Then the strong will not overpower the weak.
The many will not oppress the few.
The wealthy will not mock the poor.
The honored will not disdain the humble.
The cunning will not deceive the simple.
- Mo-Tse
If there is to be peace in the world,
There must be peace in the nations.
If there is to be peace in the nations,
There must be peace in the cities.
If there is to be peace in the cities,
There must be peace between neighbors.
If there is to be peace between neighbors,
There must be peace in the home.
If there is to be peace in the home,
There must be peace in the heart.
- Lao-Tse
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