Prayer for peace Pope Francis recited
at his
weekly general audience March 16, 2022
Composed by Archbishop Domenico
Battaglia of
Though written for the war in
Forgive
us for the war, Lord.
Lord
Jesus, son of God, have mercy on us sinners.
Lord
Jesus, born under bombs of Kyiv, have mercy on us.
Lord
Jesus, dead in the arms of a mother in Kharkiv, have mercy on us.
Lord
Jesus, in the 20-year-olds sent to the frontline, have mercy on us.
Lord
Jesus, who continues to see hands armed with weapons under the shadow of the
cross, forgive us, Lord.
Forgive
us if, not content with the nails with which we pierced your hand, we continue
to drink from the blood of the dead torn apart by weapons.
Forgive
us if these hands that you had created to protect have been turned into
instruments of death.
Forgive
us, Lord, if we continue to kill our brother. Forgive us, Lord, if we continue
to kill our brother, if we continue like Cain to take the stones from our field
to kill Abel.
Forgive
us if we go out of our way to justify cruelty, if, in our pain, we legitimize
the cruelty of our actions. Forgive us the war, Lord.
Lord
Jesus Christ, son of God, we implore you to stop the hand of Cain, enlighten
our conscience, let not our will be done, do not abandon us to our own doing.
Stop us, Lord, stop us, and when you have stopped the hand of Cain, take care
of him also. He is our brother.
O
Lord, stop the violence. Stop us, Lord.
Amen.
Translated by Catholic
News Service.