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Summary
- The Orthodox Great Litany prays “For the peace of the whole world,” and the old Latin prayer Deus, a quo sancta desideria for “that peace which the world cannot give” is said in both Catholic Vespers and Anglican Evening Prayer.
- The Peace Prayer, “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,” is not among Francis of Assisi’s writings; it first appeared anonymously in the French magazine La Clochette in December 1912 and was first attributed to Francis in 1927.
- Short prayers cover a country at war, world leaders, refugees, children in conflict, enemies, divisions at home and people of every faith who pray for peace.
- Six petitions for peace, answered “Lord, hear our prayer,” can be used as the prayers of the faithful in a church service.
- Isaiah 2:4 and Micah 4:3 foresee nations beating “their swords into plowshares,” and 1 Timothy 2:1–2 tells Christians to pray for rulers “that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life.”
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (1611), text of Project Gutenberg eBook no. 10 (Psalm 46:9; Isaiah 2:4; 9:6; Jeremiah 29:7; Micah 4:3–4; Matthew 5:9, 44; Luke 2:14; Romans 12:18; 1 Timothy 2:1–2; James 3:18; 4:1). https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10
- Hapgood, Isabel Florence, trans. Service Book of the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Apostolic (Greco-Russian) Church. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin, 1906. The All-Night Vigil Service, Great Vespers, The Great Litany, p. 5. https://archive.org/details/ServiceBookOfHolyOrthodoxChurchByHapgood
- A Manual of Prayers for the Use of the Catholic Laity, prepared and published by order of the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore. New York: Catholic Publication Society, 1888. Vespers, Commemoration “For Peace,” pp. 196–197. https://archive.org/details/AManualOfPrayers1888
- The Book of Common Prayer (Protestant Episcopal Church in the U.S.A.), Standard Book of 1928. Evening Prayer, suffrages and “A Collect for Peace,” pp. 30–31; Prayers and Thanksgivings, “For the Family of Nations,” p. 44. PDF facsimile: https://www.artisticdailyprayers.org/uploads/3/0/1/6/30164961/bcp1928std.pdf
- Renoux, Christian. “The Origin of the Peace Prayer of St. Francis,” with the original text from La Clochette, no. 12 (December 1912), p. 285. The Franciscan Archive. http://www.franciscan-archive.org/franciscana/peace.html
