Florida Council of Catholic Women/Province of Miami at P. O. Box 1811, Labelle, FL 33975 US - WUCWO Prayer for Peace

To all WUCWO Member Organizations

20 July 2006

Org Circ.4.06

Dear Sisters in Christ:

‘Peace is the fruit of justice’ …peace is likewise the fruit of love, which goes beyond what justice can provide.’ (Gaudium et Spes, N. 78)

The members of the World Union of Catholic Women's Organizations, at our General Assembly in Arlington, Va.,USA, in June 2006, made the commitment to be Women Peacemakers United in Faith and Action, "Blessed are the peacemakers,”(Mt. 5, 9).  “Understanding that peace is never attained once and for all, but must be built up ceaselessly” (Ibid), we encourage every member to work and pray for peace at every level.  

Each day brings sad news of increasing unrest in the world threatening ever graver consequences.   I invite all of us to include in our morning and evening prayers special intentions for peace:  the Assembly Prayer, the Prayer of St. Francis, a Rosary for Peace, or other prayers dear to you.   Let us also encourage our families, parishes and communities to do the same, so that together we may form a prayer chain for peace worldwide.  

“Let us pray to Mary, Queen of Peace, to implore from God the fundamental gift of concord, bringing political leaders back to the path of reason, and opening new possibilities of dialogue and agreement. In this perspective I invite the local Churches to raise special prayers for peace in the Holy Land and in the whole of the Middle East.”  -  Pope Benedict XVI, July 16, 2006

May the Holy Spirit inspire us to be united in faith and action so that we may be true witnesses of the Gospel of Peace.

In Christ Jesus,

Karen M. Hurley

President General

World Union of Catholic Women’s Organizations (WUCWO)

Assembly Prayer

Lord,

make women an instrument of your peace;

where there is division, let us be a link of union;

where there is mistrust, allow us to give forgiveness;

where there is doubt, let us put our faith;

where there is sadness, let us be joy;

where there is discouragement, let us be the way for hope;

where there are shadows, let us take Your Light.

Of all this we are capable, Lord,

because You have given us

“a body of oblation,

a womb inhabited by expectation and times,

and a task of enjoying your light.”

Lord.

let us not seek so much to be understood but to understand;

because by giving ourselves freely,

we will be able to help in the creation of a new order of love;

because by forgetting the silences of yesterday which we have suffered,

we will be able to build a tomorrow of song and redemption.

Make us, Lord, see in each man the father, the brother, the friend, the son.

Make us, Lord, see in each woman a piece of our own being.

Make us, Lord, see in diverse cultures the community of people to create for God.

Lord, let our aspiration be reaching Your Perfect Image.

Make us, Lord, an instrument of Your Peace.

Give us a spirit of unity, of harmony, of dialogue, of mercy and of love.

Amen.

by Maria Teresa Porcile Santiso