Prayers for All- For Unity of Faiths...

For Unity of Faiths

O God, we are one with you. You have made us one with you. You have taught us that if we are open to one another, you dwell in us. Help us to preserve this openness and to fight for it with all our hearts. Help us to realize that there can be no understanding where there is mutual rejection. O God, in accepting one another wholeheartedly, fully, completely, we accept you, and we thank you, and we adore you, and we love you with our whole being, because our being is your being, our spirit is rooted in your spirit. Fill us then with love, and let us be bound together with love as we go our diverse ways, united in this one spirit which makes you present in the world, and which makes you witness to the ultimate reality that is love. Love has overcome. Love is victorious.

Thomas Merton 1915-1968

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May He Who is the Father in Heaven of the Christians,

Holy One of the Jews, Allah of the Muhammadans, Buddha of the Buddhists, Tao of the Chinese, Ahura Mazda of the Zoroastrians and Brahman of the Hindus lead us from the unreal to the Real, from darkness to light, from disease and death to immortality. May the All-Loving Being manifest Himself unto us, and grant us abiding understanding and all-consuming divine love. Peace, Peace. Peace be unto all.

Swami Akhilananda, Bangladesh 1894-1962

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O Lord, grant us to love Thee; grant that we may love those that love Thee; grant that we may do the deeds that win Thy love. Make the love of Thee be dearer to us than ourselves, than our families, than wealth, and even than cool water.

Mohammed 570-632

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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; and

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.

St. Francis of Assisi 1181-1226

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Be praised, my Lord, with all Your creatures,

Especially Brother Sun,

By whom You bring us the day and who brings us the light;

Fair is he and shines with a very great splendor...

Be praised, my Lord, for Sister Moon and the stars, which you have set clear and lovely in heaven.

Be praised, my Lord, for Brother Wind, and for air and cloud, calms and all weather...

Be praised, my Lord, for Sister Water, who is very useful and humble and precious and clean.

Be praised my Lord for Brother Fire, through whom You give us light in darkness, and he is bright and pleasant and very mighty and strong.

Be praised, my Lord, for our Sister Mother Earth, who sustains us and keep us, and brings forth fruits and flowers of many colors and leaves...

Praise and bless my Lord, and thank Him,

And serve Him with great humility.

St. Francis of Assisi

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For cities and towns, factories and farms, flowers and trees, sea and sky---

Lord we praise You for the world and its beauty.

For family and friends, neighbors and cousins---

Lord, we thank You for friendship and love.

For kind hearts, smiling faces, and helping hands---

Lord, we praise You for those who care for others.

For commandments that teach us how to live---

Lord, we thank You for those who help us to understand your laws.

And for making us one family on earth, the children of One God---

Lord we praise You, who made all people different, yet alike.

Jewish Liturgy

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Dear God, I have no idea where I am going.

I do not see the road ahead of me.

I cannot know for certain where it will end.

Nor do I really know myself...and the fact that I think that I am following Your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.

But I believe this:

I believe that the desire to please You does in fact please You.

I hope I have that desire in everything I do.

I hope I never persist in anything apart from that desire.

And I know that if I do this You will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it at the time.

Therefore I will trust You always, for though I may be lost - and in the shadow of death - I will not be afraid, because I know You will never leave me to face my troubles all alone.

Thomas Merton

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Oh God of peace, who hast taught us that in returning and rest we shall be saved, in quietness and in confidence shall be our strength:

By the might of thy Spirit lift us, we pray thee, to thy presence, where we may be still and know that thou art God. . .

Prayer for Quiet Confidence from the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer

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Prayer for Peace

Almighty God and Creator, you are the

Father of all people on the earth.

Guide, I pray all the nations and their leaders

in the ways of justice and peace.

Protect us from the evils of injustice,

prejudice, exploitation, conflict and war.

Help us to put away mistrust, bitterness and hatred.

Teach us to cease the storing and using of implements of war.

Lead us to find justice, peace and freedom.

Unite us in the making and creating of the tools of peace

against ignorance, poverty, disease and oppression.

Grant that we may grow in harmony and friendship as brothers and sisters

created in Your image, to Your honor and praise.

Amen.

From an Orthodox Christian prayerbook

Your's in Heart of Jesus,

Bro. JackMSC