Weekly Peace Prayer

for January 21, 2025
prepared by Sister Carmel Little, CSJP

We Commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Constitutions:
As the biblical tradition has linked
The pursuit of justice
With the gift of peace,
so we believe
that the promotion of justice
is integral to our mission and spirituality. #14

Recalling Jesus’ identification with the prophetic tradition,
we develop a critical, sensitive conscience
regarding religious, social, cultural,
economic, and political realities,
and we direct our efforts
to actions which bring peace through justice. #23

Reading:        Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. - adapted

I have a dream today.          
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.
From every mountainside, let freedom ring. 

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

Response:

We have a dream.  This is our hope.  We ring out freedom.
We have a dream of hope and freedom and equality for all

Prayer:
We will rebuild, reconcile, and recover
in every known nook of our nation and
every corner called our country,
our people diverse and beautiful will emerge,
battered and beautiful.
When day comes we step out of the shade,
aflame and unafraid.
The new dawn blooms as we free it.
For there is always light,
if only we’re brave enough to see it,
if only we’re brave enough to be it.
                                   The Hill We Climb
                                   Amanda Gorman - excerpt

Quiet Reflection

 ON THE PULSE OF MORNING         
Lift up your eyes
Upon this day breaking for you.
Give birth again
To the dream.

Women, children, men,
Take it into the palms of your hands,

Mold it into the shape of your most
Private need. Sculpt it into
The image of your most public self.
Lift up your hearts.
Each new hour holds new chances
For a new beginning.

Do not be wedded forever
To fear, yoked eternally
To brutishness.

Here on the pulse of this new day,
You may have the grace to look up and out
And into your sister's eyes,
And into your brother's face,
Your country,
And say simply
Very simply
With hope--
Good morning.
                                   Maya Angelou - excerpt

Quiet Reflection

Prayer: Gracious God, source of all blessings,
we ask your blessing on our new President and Vice President.
Bless them with wisdom, honesty and compassion
so that they can lead the United States
 from death to life,
from falsehood to truth,
from despair to hope,
from fear to trust,
from hate to love,
from war to peace,
and may peace fill all hearts
may peace fill our world.
may peace fill our universe.     
Based on World Peace Prayer