It is often the case that maintaining peace within a country is more difficult than achieving peace between different nations. Politics have a tendency to divide a nation, and the quest for power never ends.
One concrete action we can do, that we often forget, is to pray for all civil leaders. They need God’s grace, even if we disagree with their positions. Only God can change their hearts and guide them in the promotion of unity, honesty and peace.
Here is a prayer adapted from one by Archbishop Carroll, the first bishop of the United States of America.
We pray to you, O God of might, wisdom, and justice, through Whom authority is rightly administered, laws are enacted, and judgment decreed … let the light of your divine wisdom direct [all government leaders], and shine forth in all the proceedings and laws framed for our rule and government, so that they may tend to the preservation of peace, the promotion of national happiness, the increase of industry, sobriety, and useful knowledge; and may perpetuate to us the blessing of equal liberty.We pray for [our local leaders], for the members of the Assembly, for all judges, magistrates, and other officers who are appointed to guard our political welfare, that they may be enabled, by your powerful protection, to discharge the duties of their respective stations with honesty and ability.And we pray for fellow-citizens that they may be preserved in union, and in that peace which the world can not give.
Read more:
A prayer for all political leaders
Read more:
John Paul II’s prayer to Mary, Mother of Unity
And today we celebrate...