Praying for Peace

A group of Catholics in Lincoln Park, NJ meets each Sunday at 5 pm to pray for 24 minutes (representing the 24 hours in each day) for an end to terror and violence.

The participants pray individually for peace. Some pray the rosary, or stations of the cross, meditate on Scripture or offer their own intentions. Each session ends with the Prayer of Saint Francis.

Franciscan Sister of Peace, Ellen Byrnes says,"Our focus is to pray for peace and to trust in the power of prayer. In this time of fear and terror, the sisters believe that prayer is an untapped source needed in our world."

Prayer of Saint 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;
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. Amen

Hat tip to The Cafeteria is Closed for this story.