In the search for balance in our daily lives, we need to find the peace within us. These prayers from different faiths came to the Radio-V inboxes via e-mail during the days after the World Trade Center tragedy. This page shares them with everyone. We welcome submissions of additional Prayers for Peace representing different faiths or traditions.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred ... let me sow love
Where there is injury ... pardon
Where there is doubt ... faith
Where there is despair ... hope
Where there is darkness ... light
Where there is sadness ... joy
Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled ... as to console
To be understood ... as to understand,
To be loved ... as to love
For it is in giving ... that we receive,
It is in pardoning ... that we are pardoned,
It is in dying ... that we are born to eternal life.

Be generous in prosperity,
and thankful in adversity.
Be fair in judgement,
and guarded in thy speech,
Be a lamp unto those who walk
in darkness, and a home
to the stranger.
Be eyes to the blind, and a guiding light
unto the feet of the erring
Be a breath of life to the body of
humankind, a dew to the soil of
the human heart,
and a fruit upon the tree of humility.

May all beings everywhere
plagued with sufferings of body and mind
quickly be freed from their illnesses.
May those frightened cease to be afraid,
and may those bound be free.
May the powerless find power,
and may people think of befriending
one another.
May those who find themselves in trackless,
fearful wilderness--
the children, the age, the unprotected--
be guarded by beneficial celestials,
and may they swiftly attain Buddhahood

Blessed are the PEACEMAKERS,
for they shall be known as
the Children of God.
But I say to you that hear, love your enemies,
do good to those who hate you,
bless those who curse you
pray for those who abuse you.
To those that strike you on the cheek,
offer the other one also,
and from those who take away your cloak,
do not withhold your coat as well.
Give to everyone who begs from you,
and of those who take away your goods,
do not ask for them again.
And as you wish that others would do to you,
do so to them.

Oh God, lead us from the unreal to the Real.
Oh God, lead us from darkness to light.
Oh God, lead us from death to immortality.
Shanti, Shanti, Shanti unto all.
Oh Lord God almighty,
may there be peace
in celestial regions.
May there be peace on Earth.
May the waters be appeasing.
May herbs be wholesome,
and may trees and plants bring peace to all.
May all beneficient beings bring peace to us.
May thy Vedic Law propagate peace
all through the world.
May all things be a source of peace to us.
And may thy peace itself, bestow peace on all
and may that peace come to me also.

Jewish Prayer for Peace

Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, that we may walk the paths of the Most High.
And we shall beat our swords into ploughshares, and our spears into pruning hooks.
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation neither shall they learn war any more.
And none shall be afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of Hosts has spoken.

Jainist Prayer for Peace

Peace and Universal Love is the essence
of the Gospel preached by all
Enlightened Ones.
The Lord has preached that equanimity
is the dharma
Forgive do I creatures all,
and let all creatures forgive me.
Unto all have I amity, and unto none enmity.
Know that violence is the root cause of
all miseries in the world.
Violence, in fact, is the knot of bondage.
"Do not injure any living being."
This is the eternal, perrenial, and unalterable
way of spiritual life.
A weapon, howsoever powerful it may be,
can always be superseded by a superior one;
but no weapon can, however,
be superior to non-violence and love.

In the name of Allah, the beneficent, the merciful.
Praise be to the Lord of the Universe
who has created us and made us
into tribes and nations that we may know
each other, not that we may despise each other.
If the enemy incline towards peace,
do thou also incline towards peace,
and trust God, for the Lord is the one
that heareth and knoweth all things.
And the servants of God, Most gracious
are those who walk on the Earth in humility,
and when we address them, we say "PEACE."

Almighty God,
the Great Thumb we cannot evade
to tie any knot;
the Roaring Thunder that splits mighty trees:
the all-seeing Lord up on high who sees
even the footprints of an antelope on
a rock mass here on Earth.
You are the one who does
not hesitate to respond to our call.
You are the cornerstone of peace.

Oh Great Spirit of our Ancestors, I raise my pipe to you.
To your messengers the four winds, and to Mother Earth who provides for your children.
Give us the wisdom to teach our children to love, to respect, and to be kind
to each other so that they may grow with peace of mind.
Let us learn to share all good things that you provide for us on this Earth.

Although the people living
across the ocean
surrounding us, I believe
are all our brothers and sisters,
why are there constant troubles in
this world?
Why do winds and waves rise in the
oceans surrounding us?
I only earnestly wish that the wind will
soon puff away all the clouds which are
hanging over the tops of mountains.

Wear a white ribbon on World Peace Day, November 17

Visit www.peaceday.org to find out more about World Peace Day and how to participate.

God adjudges us according to our deeds,
not the coat that we wear:
that Truth is above everything,
but higher still is truthful living.
Know that we attaineth God when we loveth,
and only victory endures in consequences
of which no one is defeated

Gracious Lady, Mother of all that lives,
We call out to you to guide all of your children.
Bless our eyes, that we may see each other with love.
Bless our ears, that we may hear each other with understanding.
Bless our mouths, that we may speak to each other with compassion.
Bless our hands, that they may heal, not harm.
Bless our feet, that we may walk beside each other in peace.
Great Goddess, Mother of birth and death and rebirth,
Goddess of the green Earth that feeds us,
Of the creatures that roam upon its surface,
And the tides that lap its shores,
Lady of the Cauldron, let all your children drink of its wisdom
And know that all names of the Divine are but one Name,
And all worship but a dance to the singular music of Life.

We pray to God to eradicate all the misery in the world: that understanding triumph over ignorance, that generosity triumph over indifference, that trust triumph over contempt, and that truth triumph over falsehood.