from Pax Christi USA, view Prayer-Study-Action email
Introduction
On the 78th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki we remember the victims and their descendants. We take up the issue of nuclear disarmament with an urgency that acknowledges the seriousness of this cause and the dangerous threat that looms over all of humanity and the planet in 2023.
And so, we pray:
Good and gracious God, we pray for a world free of nuclear weapons.
Lift the fog of atomic darkness that hovers so pervasively over the earth.
We pray for world leaders to come to the realization
that more weapons and war do not bring peace.
May financial resources be allocated to alleviate poverty, support food security,
housing, health care, environment, and educational programs.
Good and gracious God, we pray that the deadly power of nuclear weapons
never again be unleashed on people and Your creation.
May such weapons of mass and indiscriminate annihilations
be forever banned and eliminated from the face of the earth.
Good and gracious God, forgive our past silence, give us the courage and strength
to tirelessly raise our prophetic voices to work to eliminate weapons of mass destruction.}
Let us remember Hiroshima and Nagasaki as beacons
as we commit ourselves to find ways to live together in peace,
that we may not be just peace lovers, but peacemakers.
In the words of Isaiah:
It shall come to pass that the peoples shall beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
And so, we pray for the time when
“Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.”
Amen, so be it.
