International Day of Peace -21st September 2025

0921 International Day of Peace 2p LETTER WEB SMC R1R 20250130

0921 International Day of Peace 2p WEB SMC A4 R1R 20250130

Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi

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.
Amen.

Prayer for Peace—St. John Paul I

Lord Jesus Christ, who are called the Prince of Peace, who are yourself our peace and reconciliation, who so often said, “Peace to you,” grant us peace. Make all men and women witnesses of truth, justice, and brotherly love. Banish from their hearts whatever might endanger peace.
Enlighten our rulers that they may guarantee and defend the great gift of peace. May all peoples on the earth become as brothers and sisters. May longed for peace blossom forth and reign always over us all.
Amen

Prayer for Peace in the World — St. John Paul II

Immaculate Heart of Mary, help us to conquer the menace of evil, which so easily takes root in the hearts of the people of today, and whose immeasurable effects already weigh down upon our modern world and seem to block the paths toward the future.
From famine and war, deliver us. From nuclear war, from incalculable self-destruction, from every kind of war, deliver us.
From sins against human life from its very beginning, deliver us. From hatred and from the demeaning of the dignity of the children of God, deliver us.
From every kind of injustice in the life of society, both national and international, deliver us.
From readiness to trample on the commandments of God, deliver us.
From attempts to stifle in human hearts the very truth of God,
deliver us.
From the loss of awareness of good and evil, deliver us. From sins against the Holy Spirit, deliver us.
Accept, O Mother of Christ, this cry laden with the sufferings of all individual human beings laden with the sufferings of whole societies. Help us with the power of the Holy Spirit conquer all sin: individual sin and the “sin of the world,” sin in all its manifestations.
Let there be revealed once more in the history of the world the infinite saving power of the redemption: the power of merciful love. May it put a stop to evil. May it transform consciences. May your Immaculate Heart reveal for all the light of hope.
Amen.

A Prayer for Inner Peace

Lord, please put Your peace in my heart. I’m worried and anxious. My mind races and obsesses. I can’t help thinking about my problems. And the more I think about them, the more depressed I become. I feel like I’m sinking down in quicksand and can’t get out. Calm me, Lord. Slow me down, put Your peace in my heart.
No matter what problem I have, Lord, You are bigger, You are more powerful than it is. So I bring my problem to You. I know what I want. I know my will. I do not know Yours. I do not know how You will use this problem for my salvation. I do not know what good You will work out from this evil. But I trust You. I trust Your goodness and Your wisdom. So I place myself in Your hands. Please fill my heart with peace.

Prayer for Peace to stop wars

Forgive us for the war, Lord.
Lord Jesus, son of God, have mercy on us sinners.
Lord Jesus, born under the bombs of Kyiv, have mercy on us.
Lord Jesus, dead in the arms of a mother, have mercy on us.
Lord Jesus, in the 20-year-olds sent to the frontline, have mercy on us. Lord Jesus, who continues to see hands armed with weapons
under the shadow of the cross, forgive us, Lord. Forgive us if, not content with the nails with which we pierced your hand, we continue to drink from the blood of the dead torn apart by weapons. Forgive us if these hands that you had created to protect have been turned into instruments of death.
Forgive us, Lord, if we continue to kill our brother. Forgive us, Lord, if we continue to kill our brother, if we continue like Cain to take the stones from our field to kill Abel.
Forgive us if we go out of our way to justify cruelty, if, in our pain, we legitimize the cruelty of our actions. Forgive us the war, Lord. Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, we implore you to stop the hand of Cain, enlighten our conscience, let not our will be done, do not abandon us to our own doing. Stop us, Lord, stop us, and when you have stopped the hand of Cain, take care of him also. He is our brother. O Lord, stop the violence. Stop us, Lord.
Amen.

A Prayer for Peace

Lord Jesus Christ, You are the true King of peace. In You alone is found freedom.
Please free our world from conflict. Bring unity to troubled
nations. Let Your glorious peace reign in every heart.
Dispel all darkness and evil. Protect the dignity of every human life. Replace hatred with Your love.
Give wisdom to world leaders. Free them from selfish ambition.
Eliminate all violence and war.
Glorious Virgin Mary, Saint Michael the Archangel, Every angel and saint: Please pray for peace. Pray for unity amongst nations. Pray for unity amongst all people. Pray for the most vulnerable. Pray for those suffering. Pray for the fearful. Pray for those most in need. Pray for us all. Jesus, Son of the Living God, have mercy on us. Jesus, hear our prayers. Jesus, I trust in You!
Amen.

Prayer for Peace in Our Time

O God, author and giver of peace, in whose image and likeness each of us has been created with a human dignity worthy of respect on earth and destined for eternal glory, Listen to the cry that rises from every corner of this fragile earth, from our human family torn by violent conflict: Give peace in our time, O good and gracious God, that peace which, as your Son Jesus Christ told us and as we have experienced in these days, is a peace which the world cannot give. To world leaders grant the wisdom
to see beyond the boundaries of race, religion, and nation to that common humanity that makes us all your children and brothers and sisters to one another.
To those who have taken up arms in anger or revenge or even in the cause of justice grant the grace of conversion to the path of peaceful dialogue and constructive collaboration.
To the innocent who live in the shadow of war and terror, especially the frightened children, be a shelter and strength, their haven and hope.
And to those who have already lost their lives as victims of human cruelty and chemical warfare, open wide your arms and enfold them all in the embrace of your compassion, healing, and everlasting life. Grant this through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord. Mary, Mother of all and Queen of peace, pray for us.
– Peter J. Scagnelli

The Beatitudes

Blessed are the poor in spirit: Those who are humble and aware of their spiritual poverty
Blessed are those who mourn: Those who are sad or experiencing loss, but will be comforted by God
Blessed are the meek: Those who are humble and patient, and
resolve conflicts without violence
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness: Those who are motivated by a desire for justice
Blessed are the merciful: Those who are forgiving and will receive mercy in return
Blessed are the pure in heart: Those who are free from impurity and can see God Blessed are the peacemakers: Those who bring peace and will be called children of God Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: Those who suffer for their faith and will receive the kingdom of heaven