AN ADVENT CALL

TO FASTING AND PRAYER FOR PEACE

Guidelines for Fasting

Scripture Readings for Justice and Peace

Prayers for Peace

Prayer for Fridays

A Prayer to the Holy Spirit

Prayer for Everyday

Prayer for Peace by Pope John Paul II

            On the Fridays of Advent (December 6, 13 and 20, 2002) Christians in our region are encouraged to engage in fasting and prayer for peace.  People may do this on their own or they might gather together with other believers for common prayer and meditation.

Guidelines on Fasting

Fasting can be from all food and drink, or from solids but not liquids.  It can be from a given meal or from all the meals of a day.  (It is adjusted to the age, health, experience and wellbeing of those who do it.)

The Old Testament lists fasting among the cornerstones of faithful spirituality.  Fasting is used to prepare to meet God (cf. Exodus 34:28; I Kings 19:8; Daniel 9:3); to prepare for a difficult task (cf. Judges 20:26; Esther 4:16): or to express grief in the wake of domestic or national misfortune (cf. I Samuel 7:6; II Samuel 1:12).  Fasting, inseparable from prayer and justice, is directed above all to conversion of heart, without which – as the Prophets declared (cf. Isaiah 58:2-11; Jeremiah 14:12; Zechariah 7:5-14) – it is meaningless.

       Before beginning his public mission, Jesus, driven by the Holy Spirit, fasted for forty days as an expression of his trusting abandonment to God’s salvation (cf. Matthew 4:1-4).  He gave precise instructions to his disciples that their fasting should never be tainted by ostentation and hypocrisy (cf. Matthew 6:16-18).

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SCRIPTURE READINGS

FOR JUSTICE AND PEACE

The Ecumenical Call to Fasting and Prayer for Peace is an initiative of the Peacemaking Committee of the Metropolitan Christian Council of Philadelphia.  This call has been endorsed by the following leaders: 

• The Rev. Roy G. Almquist, Bishop, Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod – Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

• The Rt. Rev. Charles E. Bennison, Jr., Bishop, Diocese of Pennsylvania – Episcopal Church

• The Rev. Linward Crowe, Philadelphia Leadership Foundation

• The Rev. Edward D. Gehres, Jr., Executive Presbyter, Philadelphia Presbytery – Presbyterian Church (USA)

• Thomas Jeavons, General Secretary, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of Friends

• The Rev. Steven Lawrence, President, Metropolitan Christian Council of Philadelphia

• The Rev. James McJunkin, Jr., Executive Minister, Philadelphia Baptist Association – American Baptist Churches

• The Rev. F. Russell Mitman, Conference Minister, Pennsylvania Southeast Conference – United Church of Christ

• The Rev. Peter D. Weaver, Bishop, Eastern Pennsylvania Conference – United Methodist Church

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PRAYERS FOR PEACE

Prayer for Fridays

All praise be yours, God our Creator,

As we wait in joyful hope for the flowering of justice

And the fullness of peace.

All praise for this day, this Friday.

By our weekly fasting and prayer cast out the spirit of war,

 Of fear and mistrust,

And make us grow hungry for human kindness,

Thirsty for solidarity with all the people of your dear earth.

May all our prayer, our fasting and our deeds

Be done in the name of Jesus.

Amen.

Office for the Ministry of Peace and Justice, Archdiocese of Chicago

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A Prayer to the Holy Spirit

Come, Spirit of God,

      Grant us the power to be gentle,

      The strength to be forgiving,

      The patience to be understanding,

      The endurance to accept the consequences

      Of holding on to what is right.

Come, Spirit of God,

      Help us to put our trust

      In the power of love to overcome hatred.

Come, Spirit of God,

      Enlighten us with the vision to see

And the faith to believe in a world free from violence,

      A new world, where fear will no longer

            lead us to commit injustices,

      Nor selfishness cause us to bring suffering to others.

Come, Spirit of wisdom and love,

      Source of all good,

      Teach us your truth

      And guide our actions in your way of peace.

Source unknown

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Prayer for Every Day

Lord, we pray for the power to be gentle;

The strength to be forgiving;

The patience to be understanding;

The endurance to accept the consequences of holding fast to what we believe to be right.

May we put our trust in the power of good to overcome evil and the power of love to overcome hatred.  We pray for the vision to see and the faith to believe in a world emancipated from violence, a new world where fear shall no longer lead people to commit injustice, nor selfishness make them bring suffering to others.

Help us to devote our whole life and thought and energy to the task of making peace, praying always for the inspiration and the power to fulfil the destiny for which we and all humankind were created.

Week of Prayer for World Peace

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Prayer for Peace

By Pope John Paul II

Great and merciful God,

Lord of peace and life,

You have plans for peace, and not affliction.

You condemn wars

And defeat the pride of the violent.

You sent your Son Jesus

To preach peace to those near and far,

To gather people of every race and nation into a single family.

Hear the single-hearted cry of all humanity:

No more war, a spiral of death and violence,

A threat against all your creatures

In heaven, on earth, and in the sea.

In communion with Mary, the Mother of Jesus,

Once again we implore you;

Speak to the hearts of those responsible for the fate of peoples,

Stop the logic of revenge and retaliation,

With your spirit suggest new solutions,

Generous and honorable gestures,

Room for dialogue and patient waiting

Which are more fruitful than the hurried deadlines of war.

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