O one God of all nations.
You created the earth and the cosmos,
in their differences, beauty and frailty.
The various cultures and religions seek You,
the origin of all things.
You want all to be for each other, not a threat,
but a blessing.
Our one world should be, by Your will,
an inhabitable and peaceful home.
You chose the Near East to make known to us all
Your Name and Your Path in many places.
Abraham, the Father in faith of Jews, Muslims and Christians,
listened to your appeal in the region between the
Euphrates and the Tigris, the present-day Iraq.
To the old and new People of Israel You promised
life and a future in a special way.
As Christian women and men, we thank You
especially for our Lord and Brother Jesus Christ.
He is our Peace.
He came to knock down walls and to give to all, without distinction,
life and a future.
We know ourselves to be in communion with the
Churches of the Near East.
They give testimony to the Gospel of Jesus,
to the liberating power of non-violence
and to the certainty of the Resurrection.
We also pray to You
in unity with all the Brothers and Sisters of those Religions,
which have their origins in the Near East.
You created us all in Your own images and likeness,
we are Your image.
In all those that seek You in truth,
You have inspired hunger and thirst for justice
and a desire for peace.
All, Muslims, Christians and Members of the People of Israel,
earnestly aspire to reconciliation.
All are in mourning for the victims
of hatred and violence.
All, in accordance with Your project, are also called
to collaborate in the construction of a new world.
We, therefore, beseech You:
Have mercy on all the victims and on all the blameworthy.
Put an end to the spiral of violence, of enmity,
of hatred, of vendetta.
Give to all, especially to those responsible for politics,
the conviction that the way to lasting peace
is not that of war,
but of peace with justice.
Awaken in all the Religions
and in the people of today that they should be
instruments and messengers
of a different world.
Cause hearts to open and war to cease,
before it even begins.
Give lasting peace to the Near East.
Make a secure homeland a reality for all.
Lord, have all those of good will from all Religions,
in the North and South, in the East and West, in common responsibility,
to demolish the mountain of misunderstanding,
to fill in the trenches of hatred
and to make smooth the paths towards a common future.
Make the guns silent in our one world
and have, instead, the appeal for peace resound ever stronger,
for all, without distinction.
O Lord, the one God.
Hermann Schalück, OFM
