20 October 2022

Praying for World Peace and with USPG:
Thursday 20 October 2022

The Killing of the Holy Innocents, by Giotto (ca 1304-1306), in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua … the Week of Prayer for World Peace invites prayers today on the theme of ‘Effects on Children’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Before today gets busy, I am taking some time this morning for reading, prayer and reflection.

This year, the Week of Prayer for World Peace is from 16 to 23 October. In my prayer diary from last Sunday until next Sunday, I am reflecting in these ways:

1, One of the readings for the morning;

2, A reflection from the programme for the Week of Prayer for World Peace (16 to 23 October);

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary, ‘Pray with the World Church.’

‘Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth?’ (Luke 12: 51) … the Reconciliation monument in the ruins of Coventry Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Luke 12: 49-53 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 49 ‘I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50 I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! 51 Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! 52 From now on, five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; 53 they will be divided:

father against son
and son against father,
mother against daughter
and daughter against mother,
mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law
and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.’

The Week of Prayer for World Peace takes place this year from Sunday 16 October 2022 to Sunday 23 October 2022

Week of Prayer for World Peace 2022, Day 5:

The week of Prayer for World Peace takes place from the second to third Sunday in October each year, which this year is from last Sunday (Sunday 16 October 2022) to next Sunday (23 October 2022).

The Week of Prayer for World Peace is supported by a wide range of organisations, many of which I have engaged with over the years, including the Anglican Pacifist Fellowship, Christian CND, the Fellowship of Reconciliation, Pax Christi, and Quaker Peace and Social Witness.

Day 5: Effects on Children:

Let us pray for all children who suffer because of the decisions of others, including children who suffer physical or mental injuries and those who are bereaved.

‘Pray for all victims of war, for all those innocent children who have been objects of these vicious wars. Pray for the children who never got to experience what the joy of childhood was really like. Pray for those who struggle to find a loaf of bread to feed their loved ones.’
– Adapted from a Muslim prayer

‘O Great Spirit of our Ancestors, I raise my pipe to you.
To your messengers the four winds, and to Mother Earth who
provides for your children,
Give us the wisdom to teach our children to love, to respect and to be
kind to each other so that they may grow with peace in mind.

Let us learn to share all the good things that you provide for us on This Earth.’
– Appalachian Cherokee Nation Prayer

Hungry, the world’s poor children cry,
In tragic millions doomed to die,
We care not why or how;
While wealth beyond all bounds is spent
On vast destructive armament,
Where is compassion now?
– Extracted from a poem by Stanley Finch

May God bless you and keep you.
May God shine light on you and be gracious to you.
May God turn toward you and grant you peace.
– Hebrew blessing for children

A detail from The Killing of the Holy Innocents, by Giotto (ca 1304-1306), in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua … the Week of Prayer for World Peace invites prayers today on the theme of ‘Effects on Children’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayer (Thursday 20 October 2022):

The Collect:

Almighty and everlasting God,
increase in us your gift of faith
that, forsaking what lies behind
and reaching out to that which is before,
we may run the way of your commandments
and win the crown of everlasting joy;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post Communion Prayer:

We praise and thank you, O Christ, for this sacred feast:
for here we receive you,
here the memory of your passion is renewed,
here our minds are filled with grace,
and here a pledge of future glory is given,
when we shall feast at that table where you reign
with all your saints for ever.

The theme in the USPG Prayer Diary this week is ‘World Food Day.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday.

The USPG Prayer Diary invites us to pray today in these words:

We pray for people around the world who cannot afford to eat. May we work for a future where no one goes hungry.

Yesterday's reflection

Continued tomorrow

May God bless you and keep you. May God shine light on you and be gracious to you. May God turn toward you and grant you peace. – Hebrew blessing for children (Photograph: Kevin Martin)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

Children of the Holocaust … a Holocaust memorial at the Jewish cemetery in Berlin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

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