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Pray for Peace!
October 27, 2023
"Dear children! Winds of evil, hatred and peacelessness are blowing through the earth to destroy lives. That is why the Most High sent me to you, to lead you towards the way of peace and unity with God and people. You, little children, are my extended hands: pray, fast and offer sacrifices for peace – the treasure for which every heart yearns. Thank you for having responded to my call."
This message calls us to be Our Lady's extended hands, to pray, fast and offer sacrifices for peace. I would like to respond today to that call by offering you a prayer written by Fr. Slavko Barbaric, and published in "Pray with the Heart!" A Medjugorje Manual of Prayer.
I believe it will help us to begin responding to Our Lady's call. May we take time with The Rosary of Peace this weekend, and begin to give ourselves to the task that Our Lady has given us...to pray for peace.
The Rosary of Peace
From Pray With the Heart! Medjugorje Manual of Prayer (Fr. Slavko Barbaric)
Introductory Prayer
Heavenly Father, I believe that you are the good Father of all people. I believe that you sent your son Jesus Christ to the world to conquer evil and sin, and to accomplish peace among all people, for all people are your children and Jesus’ brothers. And once we know this, all destruction and every defilement of peace is all the more pitiable and incomprehensible. Grant that I now and all those who will pray for peace, may pray with a pure heart that you may answer our prayers and give us true peace of heart and soul – peace to our families, peace to our church and to the whole world. Good Father, remove from us all weeds of disturbance and disorder and give us the joyous fruits and of peace and reconciliation with you and with all men. We ask you this with Mary, the Mother of your Son and the Queen of Peace. May it be so.
I believe….
THE FIRST MYSTERY: Jesus gives peace to my heart.
“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives, do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.” (John 14:27)
Jesus, quiet my heart. Open my heart to your peace. I have had enough unrest and anxiety. Jesus, I have been cheated thoroughly by false hopes, bruised by heavy blows, cut by sharp blades. I have no peace. I am easily overwhelmed by worries. I am easily affected by fear and mistrust. Too often have I hoped to find peace in this world, but my heart is still restless. Therefore, Jesus, together with St. Augustine I ask you to appease my heart and let it find rest in you. Do not ever let the waves of sin overflow it. Be my rock and my fortress from now on. Come back to me and stay with me, you who are the only fountain of true peace. Thank you for the consoling words recorded by your dearest disciple: “I have told you this that you might have peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.” (John 16:33)
(Our Father, 10 Hail Marys, Glory Be, O My Jesus…)
THE SECOND MYSTERY: Jesus offers peace to my family.
“Whatever town or village you enter, look for a worthy person in it, and stay there until you leave. As you enter a house, wish it peace. If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; if not, let your peace return to you.” (Matthew 10:11-13)
O Jesus, thank you for having thought of our families as well. Thank you for having sent out the apostles to spread their peace in families. Now I ask you heartily to to make my family deserving of your peace. Cleanse us of all sinful thoughts and deeds that your peace may grow and come into bloom within us. May your peace remove all anxieties, all conflicts from our family. Grant that your peace may completely overwhelm us and that You, the Peacemaker may always be the first member of our family. I also pray to you for neighboring families. Let them too, be, filled with your peace and we shall all be fine.
(Our Father, 10 Hail Marys, Glory Be, O my Jesus…)
THE THIRD MYSTERY: Jesus offers peace to the Church and calls her to spread peace.
“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old order has passed away; now all is new. All this has been done by God who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. We implore you in Christ’s name; be reconciled to God.” (2 Cor. 5:17-19)
Jesus, I implore you to give peace to your Church. Reconcile all that is unreconcilable in her. Bless priests, bishops and the Pope that they may live reconciled and perform the ministry of reconciliation. Remove from your Church all division. Reconcile all those who are in variance in your Church and who, with their mutual conflicts, scandalize your little ones. Reconcile various religious groups. May your Church, spotless and stainless, be steadily calm, and let her be the promoter of peace.
(Our Father, 10 Hail Marys, Glory Be, O my Jesus…)
THE FOURTH MYSTERY: Jesus offers peace to his people.
“As he drew near, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, ‘If this day you only knew what makes for peace – but now it is hidden from your eyes. For the days are coming upon you when your enemies will raise a palisade against you; and they will encircle you and hem you in on all sides. They will smash you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave one stone upon another within you because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.” (Luke 19:41-44)
Jesus, you wept over your city and over your people. You offered them peace, but they were deaf and blind and did not either hear or see. Thank you for your love toward your people. Please grant that I may know how to lead my town, my people, my village, and my homeland to the good. I pray to you for every individual member of my homeland, for each of my countrymen, for all those who are in authority. Grant that they may not be blind but that they may learn and recognize what they are to do for the realization of peace. Let there be no more ruin in my people, but let them all become solid spiritual buildings which will shine with peace and joy. Jesus, give peace to my people. Give peace to every nation. Let everyone live in peace and let everyone proclaim peace.
(Our Father, 10 Hail Marys, Glory Be, O my Jesus…)
THE FIFTH MYSTERY: Jesus offers peace to the whole world.
“Promote the welfare of the city to which I have exiled you; pray for it to the Lord, for upon its welfare depends your own.” (Jeremiah 29:7)
Jesus, the dangerous seeds of war and all kinds of conflicts have long since been sown and are now germinating on the earth. And I know quite well that my peace too, as well as the peace of all people, firmly depends on peace in all countries and nations of the world. Therefore I ask you to root out, with your divine power, the ill-fated seed of unrest and sin as the first cause of every disturbance. Let the whole world be open to your peace. All people need you in their life’s unrest, so help them all to find peace, to realize peace. Many nations have lost their character. Many live in fear of others who are stronger and richer. Many of the poor and the persecuted rebel, while many of the rich and the wanton vent their fury over them. Generally, there is no peace, or hardly any. So, Lord, send us your Holy Spirit that He may bring the original divine order into this human disorder of ours. Let the nations be healed of their spiritual wounds so that mutual reconciliation may be possible. Send to all nations the messengers and harbingers of peace so that everyone may realize the deep truth of what you once said through your great prophet: "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings glad tidings, announcing peace, bearing good news, announcing salvation, and saying to Zion, ‘Your God is King.’” (Isaiah 52:7)
(Our Father, 10 Hail Marys, Glory Be, O my Jesus…)
Closing Prayer
O Lord, heavenly Father, give us your peace. We ask this of you together with all your children in whom you have planted the desire for peace and appeasement. We ask this together with all those who, in unspeakable sufferings, are sighing for peace. And after this life, which, for the best part of it after all, we have spent in restlessness, take us into the kingdom of your eternal peace and love. Accept all those who have fallen as victims of war and conflicts. Accept all those who are looking for peace on wrong paths. We ask this through Christ, the Prince of Peace, and through the intercession of our Heavenly Mother, the Queen of Peace. Amen.
Thank you for praying The Rosary for Peace! May we persevere now in these days as Our Lady has asked us. Pray, Fast and Sacrifice for Peace!
In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
(c) Mary TV 2023
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