A Meditation for Peace1
May it be Your will, O Merciful God,
that you erase war and bloodshed from the world
and in its place draw down a great and glorious peace
so that nation shall not lift up sword against nation
neither shall they learn war any more.
Rather, may all the inhabitants of the earth recognize and deeply know this great truth:
that we have not come into this world for strife and division,
nor for hatred and rage, nor provocation and bloodshed.
We have come here only to encounter You, eternally blessed One.
And so, we ask your compassion upon us;
Hear our prayers for peace:
A Jewish Prayer2
I shall place peace upon the earth and you shall lie down safe and undisturbed
and I shall banish evil beasts from the earth and the sword shall not pass through your land.
But let justice come in waves like water and righteousness flow like a river,
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Holy One as the waters cover the sea.
A Christian Prayer3
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
A Muslim Prayer4
In the name of Allah, the beneficent, the merciful.
Praise be to the Lord of the Universe, who has created us and made us into tribes and nations,
that we may know each other, not that we may despise each other.
If the enemy incline towards peace, do thou incline towards peace;
and trust God, for the Lord is the one that knows and hears all things.
And the servants of God, most gracious are those who walk on the earth in humility,
and when we address them, we say ‘Peace’.
And let us say: Amen.
1) Adapted from Rabbi Nahman of Bratzlav.
2) Amos 5:24.
3) Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi.
4) Based on Quran 49:13, 8:61.