Prayer for Peace in Iraq
Hola! First, I was alerted to the fact the the links to my Voces Inocentes response and my liberation theology paper didn't work. They should work now. I also wanted to note that you should not take my liberation theology paper as serious academic work because I didn't cite my sources (gasp). That was because it was a timed essay and because my teacher knew exactly what sources I was working from. So thank Clodovis Boff for a bunch of the information in there.
The second thing is I was reminded today that the four-year anniversary of the war in Iraq is tomorrow. One of my roommates, Amy, said she would like us to do some sort of prayer service for the anniversary. I was looking through a book of prayers I have, but I didn't find anything that seemed like what I was looking for, so I decided to write something myself. Here it is:
God of Life, we pray for peace.
Let us be makers of peace
in ourselves,
in our communities,
in our country,
and in the world.
We pray for all people suffering from war,
especially the people of Iraq,
today, on the four-year anniversary of the war in that country.
We pray for all those who have died: the tens of thousands of Iraqi citizens, the soldiers of Iraq, the United States, El Salvador, and all other countries.
We pray for those who have died trying to make peace,
and we pray for those who are still alive, trying to make peace.
We pray for the politicians of the U.S. and Iraq,
that they see the injustice of war,
put an end to the violence,
and prioritize peace and true justice,
leaving behind selfish motivations,
and giving preference to the poor.
We pray that everyone understand that "collateral damage" and "casualties" means real people, killed unnecessarily:
Sisters, brothers, mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, best friends.
We pray for an end to religious conflict and civil war,
that the world may hear your call to nonviolent resolutions,
to beat our swords into plowshares,
and to love our enemies.
We pray that we learn from history,
that we do not repeat war, violence, and injustice,
that we always remember the tragedy of war.
We pray for hope and strength in the struggle for peace.
Amen.
The second thing is I was reminded today that the four-year anniversary of the war in Iraq is tomorrow. One of my roommates, Amy, said she would like us to do some sort of prayer service for the anniversary. I was looking through a book of prayers I have, but I didn't find anything that seemed like what I was looking for, so I decided to write something myself. Here it is:
God of Life, we pray for peace.
Let us be makers of peace
in ourselves,
in our communities,
in our country,
and in the world.
We pray for all people suffering from war,
especially the people of Iraq,
today, on the four-year anniversary of the war in that country.
We pray for all those who have died: the tens of thousands of Iraqi citizens, the soldiers of Iraq, the United States, El Salvador, and all other countries.
We pray for those who have died trying to make peace,
and we pray for those who are still alive, trying to make peace.
We pray for the politicians of the U.S. and Iraq,
that they see the injustice of war,
put an end to the violence,
and prioritize peace and true justice,
leaving behind selfish motivations,
and giving preference to the poor.
We pray that everyone understand that "collateral damage" and "casualties" means real people, killed unnecessarily:
Sisters, brothers, mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, best friends.
We pray for an end to religious conflict and civil war,
that the world may hear your call to nonviolent resolutions,
to beat our swords into plowshares,
and to love our enemies.
We pray that we learn from history,
that we do not repeat war, violence, and injustice,
that we always remember the tragedy of war.
We pray for hope and strength in the struggle for peace.
Amen.
posted by Amber at 4:19 PM
2 Comments:
Thank you, Amber.
Wow, Amber, that was really beautiful! Thanks for such a simple and beautiful message.
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