 ay God bless you with discomfort
at easy answers, half-truths, and
superficial relationships, so that
you will live deep in your heart.
May God bless you with anger at
injustice, oppression, and
exploitation of people and the earth
so that you will work for justice,
equity, and peace.
May God bless you with tears to
shed for those who suffer so you will
reach out your hands to comfort
them and change their pain into joy.
And may God bless you with
the foolishness to think that you
can make a difference in the world,
so you will do things which
others say cannot be done.
A Franciscan Benediction
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Prayer for Peace
 ead us from death to life, from falsehood to truth.
Lead us from despair to hope, from fear to trust.
Let peace fill our hearts, our world, our universe.
Let us dream together,
Pray together,
Work together,
To build one world of peace and justice for all.
Based on The World Peace Prayer
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Meditation
 e
are entering a new and dangerous phase in
human history and in the Earth's evolution.
We can consciously shape the future evolution of the
planet. A new maturity is demanded of us. We must
become wiser than we've ever been before, for the world
is far more complex than our old visions, analyses and
structures can accommodate. We must become more
conscious and more holistically spiritual than ever
before. Our awareness and our spirituality must be
atttuned to the sacred presences in all life - to the
inner workings of the spirit in the Earth's processes
- lest we destroy our own lifeline out of arrogance.
Patricia Mische
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 hysical violence
can end even before
we have learned
the way of love,
but psychological
violence will continue
until we do.
Our outer peace
can be had through
law. The way to inner peace
is through love.
Peace Pilgrim
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e are eager to prevent
and to end war. Many of us want to do
something, but we often feel hopeless and helpless. Please do
not allow these feelings to overwhelm you; they are of no benefit to
you or the world. You can help make peace, but just making
declarations opposing war is not enough. We may shout over and
over again, "Violence is inhuman and destructive," but shouting alone
will not end war. Every mindful step we make and every mindful
breath we take will establish peace in the present moment and prevent
war in the future.
If we transform our individual consciousness, we begin the process of
changing the collective consciousness. Transforming the world's
consciousness is not possible without personal change. The collective
is made of the individual, and the individual is made of the collective,
and each and every individual has a direct effect on the collective
consciousness.
from CREATING TRUE PEACE: ENDING VIOLENCE IN YOURSELF,
YOUR FAMILY, YOUR COMMUNITY, AND THE WORLD
by Thich Nhat Hanh
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