Daily Reading for September 28
Lord Jesus, in a dark hour you spoke of the gift of peace;
we beg that gift for ourselves,
that we may have the inner serenity that cannot be taken from us.
Then we may be messengers of your peace to a strife-torn world.
Give peace in our time, Lord.
Help us to live in peace.
We pray for those who are fighting—
injury, disfigurement, and death their constant companions,
nerves and bodies strained beyond endurance,
the streams of compassion drying up within them,
their only goal the destruction of the “enemy.”
Whatever the color of their skin—we pray for them.
Whatever the sound of their tongue—we pray for them.
Whatever the insignia they wear—we pray for them.
Give peace in our time, Lord.
Help us to live in peace.
We pray for all who have been broken in battle;
for those who weep and those who can no longer weep;
for those who feel the anguish
and for those who have lost the capacity to feel;
for all prisoners—and all prison guards;
for those who exist in war-torn lands
and for those who no longer have a homeland.
Give peace in our time, Lord.
Help us to live in peace.
We pray for all who stir up strife;
for all who make a profit out of the misery of others;
for all who are led into vice as they seek a momentary forgetfulness;
for all who believe that war is inevitable.
Give peace in our time, Lord.
Help us to live in peace.
The desire to press self-interest is deeply rooted in us.
We defend our attitudes when we should be ashamed of them.
We compare the noblest aspects of our own cause with the basest of that of our opponents.
We are reluctant to admit that our own selfish desires could contribute to the miseries of others.
Give peace in our time, Lord.
Help us to live in peace.
We bring to you particular needs….
and we remember those who have died….
Give peace in our time, Lord.
Help us to live in peace.
From The Daily Office Revised, in The Wideness of God’s Mercy: Litanies to Enlarge Our Prayer, revised edition, compiled and adapted by Jeffery W. Rowthorn. Copyright © 2007. Used by permission of Church Publishing Incorporated, New York, NY. www.churchpublishing.org