Selection from the 2003 Week of
Prayer for World Peace leaflet
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DAY ONE
THE VULNERABLE

Do they not see the birds above their heads, spreading their wings and dosing them? None save the Merciful sustains them. Who is it that will defend you like an entire army, if not the Merciful?    
(Muslim, The Koran, Sura 67)

You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day.               
(Jewish, Psalm. 91)

We pray for:
- all who live in fear of war, or dread acts of terrorism.
- those who feel they must prepare for violence, not knowing where it may strike next.
- people whose job it is to teach others to fear.
- those whose calling is to give encouragement to others.
- all working together to bring terror to an end by sowing the new seeds of peace throughout the world.

May God betide all people. May the sovereign rule the earth following the righteous path. May all beings ever attain what is good.  May the worlds be prosperous and happy.
(Hindu, Vedic Hvmn)

I am able to face all types of challenge when I know how to keep my mind clear and calm.
And God is always on hand to help if I am brave enough to set aside my negative feelings
and worrying thoughts and let myself be guided by pure love.
(Brahma Kumaris)

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DAY TWO
HUMAN ARROGANCE AND PRIDE             

Cleanse ye your eyes so that ye behold no man as different from yourselves.                       
(Baha'i)

One who you think should be hit is none else but you.                                      
One who you think should be governed is none else but you.                               
One who you think should be tortured is none else but you.                              
One who you think should be enslaved is none else but you.                                 
One who you think should be killed is none else but you.                                  
(Jain)

We pray for:
- the willingness to value others and to learn from them.
- a real understanding of our own weakness.
- victims of entrenched attitudes about superiority: religious, social, racial.
- all movements devoted to the effort to help people who feel depersonalised.
- those who are despised, rejected, blamed by others and themselves.

Lord of peace, be with those who guide the destinies of the world, so that an end may come to boasting and vainglory, and the reign of arrogance dwindle in our time.  Give them the courage to speak the truth and the humility to listen. Help us to put the good of our fellow men above our own ambitions, and the truth which does not profit us above the lie which does. So may we stand upright, freed from the burden of fear and the weight of suspicion, learning to trust each other.                                      
(Jewish, Lionel Blue)

Blessed are the believers who are humble in their prayers.    
(Muslim, The Koran, Sura 23)

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DAY THREE
WHAT HATRED AND INTOLERANCE DO                  

He abused me, he beat me, he defeated me, he robbed me' -   In those who harbour such thoughts hatred will never cease.                          
(Buddhist, Dhammapada)

O mankind! Let your object of life be one and the same, let your hearts be equal (in feeling) and let your  minds be united together so that there may be an excellent common status of life for all.
(Hindu)

 We pray for:
 - the ability to understand other people's points of view.
 - the ability to listen and to learn.
 - those trapped in the compulsion to answer violence with violence
 - all movements aimed at bringing together different cultures, life-styles, aspirations
 - victims of the intolerance that refuses to listen and learn.

We remember O Lord, those who suffer from any kind of discrimination: thy children, and our brothers and sisters, who are humiliated and oppressed and for those who are denied fundamental human rights, for those who are imprisoned, and especially for those who are torutured. Our thoughts rest a few moments with them;  we pray that thy love and compassion may sustain them always.
(Christian)

 You shall not hate you, brother in your heart.                    
(Jewish Leviticus 19)

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DAY FOUR                                           
ANGER AND RESENTMENT                           

 I could see no sort of anger in God, however long I looked.                   
(Christian, Julian of Norwich)

Let all dwellers on earth recognise and know this basic truth; we have not come into this world for the sake of strife and division - God forbid; nor for the sake of hatred and envy, provocation and the shedding of blood God forbid: rather we have come into the world in order to recognise and know Thee.
(Jewish, Rabbi Nathan of Bratzlau)

We pray for:
- the power to use anger creatively rather than destructively.
- all the victims of violence, however justified it may claim to be
- communities and families torn apart by anger, who can see no end to bitterness and resentment
- those whose lives are affected by unacknowledged anger.
- understanding of the reasons for anger, our own and other people's.

Let us pray tha all living beings realise that they are all brothers and sisters, all nourished from the same source of life. Let us pray that we ourselves cease to be the cause of suffering to each other.
(Buddhist)

He that forgives and seeks reconcilement shall be rewarded by Allah.
(Muslim, The Koran Sura 42)

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