Weekly Peace Prayer
for August 4, 2026
prepared by
Sister Carmel Little, CSJP
Weekly, members of our Congregation, associates, staff, friends, and family throughout the United States and the United Kingdom pray for peace. Some gather in groups, while others pray in solitude using the prayer on this page, composed by Carmel Little, CSJP.
If you would like to view the livestream of the prayer service at St. Mary on the Lake in Bellevue, Washington, please visit this page on Tuesdays at 4:30 p.m. Pacific Time. Scroll down to view the video player.
We remember Hiroshima and Nagasaki ~
Constitutions:
Christ is our peace, the source of our power.
United with him we engage in the struggle
against the reality of evil and continue the work
of establishing God’s reign of justice and peace.
Constitutions 2
CSJP Statement on Nuclear Weapons
We, the Congregation of St. Joseph of Peace, an international Congregation,
declare our unconditional resistance to the financing, production,
possession, deployment, and use of nuclear weapons.
In solidarity with all peacemakers we recommit ourselves,
our resources, and our prayers to creating a world
built on justice from which true peace can flourish. July 2020
My Heart Cries Hiroshima And Nagasaki
A beautiful day in a most beautiful place
Little children play as the river flows
and a lovely blue sky smiles to see
as sky admires her beautiful reflection
little does blue sky know of pure evil
and soon her tears will fall so black
O' evil rides across her distant horizon
an atrocious evil fast coming to destroy
all the children, the river and blue sky
knowing such evil exists in this world
and knowing what evil has done in 1945
tears are falling, I tear my clothes
I wrap myself in sackcloth, I lay on ashes
as my heart cries endless tears of sorrow
I mourn the children, river and blue sky
* Sunprincess *
Quiet Reflection
Reading:
To remember the past is to commit oneself to the future.
To remember Hiroshima is to abhor nuclear war.
…In the face of the…calamity that every war is,
one must affirm and reaffirm again and again,
that the waging of war is not inevitable or unchangeable.
Humanity is not destined to self-destruction.
Pope John Paul II, Peace Making Day by Day, Pax Christi
Reading: “Gathered at the River” by Denise Levertov
As if the trees were indifferent…
A breeze flutters the candles, but the trees
give off a sense of listening, of hush.
The dust of August on their leaves
but it grows dark, green is something
known about, not seen.
But summer twilight takes away only color,
not form. The tree-forms, massive trunks
and the great domed heads, leaning in
towards us, are visible,
a half-circle of attention.
They listen because the war we speak of,
the human war with ourselves,
the war against earth, against nature,
is a war against them.
The words are spoken of those who survived awhile,
living shadowgraphs, eyes fixed forever
on witnessed horror,
Who survived to give testimony,
that no one may plead ignorance.
“Contra naturam” The trees,
the trees are not indifferent.
We intone together, NEVER AGAIN,
we stand in a circle, singing, speaking,
making vows, NEVER AGAIN,
remember the dead of Hiroshima, Nagasaki…
As found in Liturgies for Peace, Pax Christi, USA
Quiet Reflection
Prayer:
Forever and ever, forever and ever
We sing out, we cry out
All nature is one
Forever and ever, forever and ever
Peace on earth, peace on earth
This is our hope, this is our prayer
Peace on earth, peace on earth
This is our hope, this is our prayer.
Song of the Cranes by Children’s Peace Opera
As found in Liturgies for Peace, Pax Christi, USA
