Here is the text of the prayers that Rick brought on Saturday. Not all of them were read aloud:
Muslim Prayer for Peace
In the name of Allah,
the beneficent, the merciful.
Praise be to the Lord of the
Universe who has created us and
made us into tribes and nations
That we may know each other, not that
we may despise each other.
If the enemy incline towards peace, do
thou also incline towards peace, and
trust God, for the Lord is the one that
heareth and knoweth all things.
And the servants of God,
Most gracious are those who walk on
the Earth in humility, and when we
address them, we say "PEACE."
Oh God, You are Peace.
From You comes Peace,
To You Returns Peace.
Revive us with a salutation of Peace,
and lead us to your abode of Peace.
A Baha'i Teaching
When love is realized and the ideal spiritual bonds unite the hearts of men,
the whole human race will be uplifted,
the world will continually grow more spiritual and radiant,
and the happiness and tranquillity of mankind be immeasurably increased.
Warfare and strife will be uprooted,
disagreement and dissension pass away,
and Universal Peace unite the nations and peoples of the world.
All mankind will dwell together as one family,
blend as the waves of one sea,
shine as stars of one firmament,
and appear as fruits of the same tree.
This is the happiness and felicity of humankind.
This is the illumination of man,
the glory eternal and life everlasting;
this is the divine bestowal.
`ABDU'L-BAHA, *The Promulgation of Universal Peace*
Hindu Prayer for Peace
Lead us from the unreal to the Real.
Lead us from darkness to light.
Lead us from death to immortality.
Peace, Peace, Peace unto all.
May there be peace in celestial regions.
May there be peace on Earth.
May the waters be appeasing.
May herbs be wholesome,
and may trees and plants bring peace to all.
May all beneficient beings bring peace to us.
May thy Law propagate peace
all through the world.
May all things be a source of peace to us.
And may thy peace itself, bestow peace on all
and may that peace come to me also.
Buddhist Prayer for Peace
May all beings everywhere plagued
with sufferings of body and mind
quickly be freed from their illnesses.
May those frightened cease to be afraid,
and may those bound be free.
May the powerless find power,
and may people think of befriending one another.
May those who find themselves in trackless, fearful wilderness--
the children, the aged, the unprotected--
be guarded by beneficial celestials,
and may they swiftly attain Buddhahood.
Pray for Peace
Pray to whoever you kneel down to: Jesus nailed to his wooden or marble or plastic cross, his suffering face bent to kiss you, Buddha still under the Bo tree in scorching heat, Yahweh, Allah, raise your arms to Mary that she may lay her palm on our brows, to Shekinhah, Queen of Heaven and Earth, to Inanna in her stripped descent.
Hawk or Wolf, or the Great Whale, Record Keeper of time before, time now, time ahead, pray. Bow down to terriers and shepherds and siamese cats. Fields of artichokes and elegant strawberries.
Pray to the bus driver who takes you to work, pray on the bus, pray for everyone riding that bus and for everyone riding buses all over the world. If you haven't been on a bus in a long time, climb the few steps, drop some silver, and pray.
Waiting in line for the movies, for the ATM, for your latté and croissant, offer your plea. Make your eating and drinking a supplication. Make your slicing of carrots a holy act, each translucent layer of the onion, a deeper prayer.
Make the brushing of your hair a prayer, every strand its own voice, singing in the choir on your head. As you wash your face, the water slipping through your fingers, a prayer: Water, softest thing on earth, gentleness that wears away rock.
Making love, of course, is already a prayer. Skin and open mouths worshipping that skin, the fragile case we are poured into, each caress a season of peace.
If you're hungry, pray. If you're tired. Pray to Gandhi and Dorothy Day. Shakespeare. Sappho. Sojourner Truth. Pray to the angels and the ghost of your grandfather. When you walk to your car, to the mailbox, to the video store, let each step be a prayer that we all keep our legs, that we do not blow off anyone else's legs. Or crush their skulls.
And if you are riding on a bicycle or a skateboard, in a wheel chair, each revolution of the wheels a prayer that as the earth revolves we will do less harm, less harm, less harm.
And as you work, typing with a new manicure, a tiny palm tree painted on one pearlescent nail or delivering soda or drawing good blood into rubber-capped vials, writing on a blackboard with yellow chalk, twirling pizzas, pray for peace.
With each breath in, take in the faith of those who have believed when belief seemed foolish, who persevered. With each breath out, cherish. Pull weeds for peace, turn over in your sleep for peace, feed the birds for peace, each shiny seed that spills onto the earth, another second of peace.
Wash your dishes, call your mother, drink wine. Shovel leaves or snow or trash from your sidewalk. Make a path. Fold a photo of a dead child around your VISA card. Gnaw your crust of prayer, scoop your prayer water from the gutter. Mumble along like a crazy person, stumbling your prayer through the streets.
O God of many names
Lover of all nations
We pray for peace
in our hearts
in our homes
in our nations
in our world
The peace of your will
The peace of our need.
George Appleton, The Oxford Book of Prayer (Oxford University Press, 1985)
Prayer for the Sacred Community
O Blessed Source,
eternal Lord of creation, sustainer of all worlds,
you embrace the whole cosmos within yourself,
for everything exists in you.
Let your winds come and breathe your everlasting Spirit in us.
Let us inhale your divine Spirit and be inspired.
Enlighten us in your truth.
Pour your grace into our hearts.
Wipe away our sin and all negativity.
Transform us into your Love,
and let us radiate that Love to all others.
Inflame us with your unending life.
Dissolve our limited way of being.
Elevate us into your divine Life.
Give us your capacity to share that Life with everyone.
Shape us in your wisdom.
Grant us your joy and laughter.
Let us become that divine wisdom, sensitivity,
laughter and joy for all beings
Let us realize fully that we are members of that Sacred Community with all humankind, with other species, with nature and the entire cosmos.
Grant us a heart that can embrace them all in you.
Let us be in communion with you forever in the bliss of that Love:
the Love that sustains all and transforms all into your Divine Radiance.
Brother Wayne Teasdale
A Shinto Prayer
O Most High, help to bring thy Light into the darkened conditions of the world! Be gracious to us thy humble servants and bless us with illumination as to that which is Divinely relevant to the fulfilment of thy will!
O Most High, inspire thy servants throughout the world to further efforts towards leading back thy children who are led astray to the right way, and to live and act on the faith of what has been taught by the great founders of the religions!
Bless all spiritual leaders with thy power and enable them to give help, joy, comfort and reassurance to those suffering, to whom they minister!
excerpted from Shinto Prayers in *Religions for Peace*, 1973, WCRP
Jainist Prayer for Peace
Peace and Universal Love is the essence of the Gospel preached by all Enlightened Ones.
The Lord has preached that equanimity is the dharma
Forgive do I creatures all, and let all creatures forgive me.
Unto all have I amity, and unto none enmity.
Know that violence is the root cause of all miseries in the world.
Violence, in fact, is the knot of bondage.
"Do not injure any living being."
This is the eternal, perennial, and unalterable way of spiritual life.
A weapon, howsoever powerful it may be,
can always be superseded by a superior one;
but no weapon can penetrate the power of peace.
Peace is invincible.
Peace is the weapon of the brave.
Lead me from Death to Life,
from falsehood to truth.
Lead me from despair to hope,
From fear to trust.
Lead me from hate to love,
from war to peace.
Let peace fill our heart, our world,
Our universe.
Jewish Prayer for Peace
Come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, that we may walk the paths of the Most High. And we shall beat our swords into ploughshares and our spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation—neither shall they learn war any more. And none shall be afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of Hosts has spoken.
Grant us peace. Your most precious gift, O Eternal Source of peace, and give us the will to proclaim its message to all the peoples of the earth. Bless our country, that it may always be a stronghold of peace, and its advocate among the nations. May contentment reign within its borders, health and happiness within its homes. Strengthen the bonds of friendship among the inhabitants of all lands. And may the love of Your name hallow every home and every heart. Blessed is the Eternal God, the source of Peace.
Native American Prayer for Peace
Oh 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 of mind
Let us learn to share all good things
that you provide for us on this Earth.
Let us know peace.
For as long as the moon shall rise,
For as long as the rivers shall flow,
For as long as the sun will shine,
For as long as the grass shall grow,
Let us know peace.
Sikh Prayer for Peace
May the kingdom of justice prevail!
May the believers be united in love!
May the hearts of the believers be humble, high their wisdom,
and may they be guided in their wisdom by the Lord.
O Khalsa, say "Wahiguru, Glory be to God!" . . .
Entrust unto the Lord what thou wishest to be accomplished.
The Lord will bring all matters to fulfilment:
Know this as truth evidenced by Himself. from the Sanhedrin
God adjudges us according to our deeds, not the coat that we wear:
that Truth is above everything, but higher still is truthful living.
Know that we attaineth God when we loveth, and only victory
endures in consequences of which no one is defeated.
A Zoroastrian Prayer
With bended knees, with hands outstretched,
do I yearn for the effective expression of the holy spirit working within me:
For this love and understanding, truth and justice;
for wisdom to know the apparent from the real
that I might alleviate the sufferings of men on earth...
God is love, understanding, wisdom and virtue.
Let us love one another, let us practice mercy and forgiveness,
let us have peace, born of fellow-feeling. . . .
Let my joy be of altruistic living, of doing good to others.
Happiness is unto him from who happiness proceeds to any other human being.
We pray to God to eradicate all the misery in the world:
that understanding triumph over ignorance,
that generosity triumph over indifference,
that trust triumph over contempt, and
that truth triumph over falsehood.
