God, our Father
who inscribes in all hearts a single inner Law that we must live by. In this world
now without borders, bring together all those who pray and act for peace, through respect
for human rights and nature, here and everywhere. For we are all bound together in a global solidarity
, but even more so by the sharing of our humanity initiated by Jesus your Son. He is one
with you and the Spirit, God with the world for ever.
We ask for your blessing,
on those who undertake, imagine, create the unprecedented, so that better times may come for all,
Send your blessing,
on those who tirelessly bet on fraternity, weave links, build bridges. Send your blessing on all the little hands of hope,
Send your blessing,
on those who resist violence and injustice, who move the lines around them, on all those who refuse to give up when faced with the way things are,
Send your blessing,
on the poorest, who still find the energy to share, Send your blessing on the poorest of the poor, who still find the energy to share, to hope, to dare to sow life despite the heavy uncertainties,
Send your blessing,
but also on those who tremble, because war is there, because disease threatens, because bread, rice and millet are missing from their children’s tables,
Send your compassion, and arouse ours.
Lord our God, accept the song of praise we offer you this day:
He whom the heavens cannot contain has made his dwelling among us, blessed be he!
You are not a distant God, you are merciful, blessed are you!
You have no memory of evil. You forgive and offer a new beginning to those who seek you, blessed are you!
Your love has the vulnerability of a child, so you banish fear
and disarm hatred, blessed are you!
You made man in your image and gave him a share in your beauty.
You want him to be a partner in your covenant of peace.
Lord our God,
Blessed are you for the utopia of the prophets who tirelessly lead us forward.
Blessed are you for the vision of these men, leading with them a people on the march.
Even if the history and life of our world, past and present, constantly contradicts their words of peace, and drowns out their protests for justice, we nevertheless believe that a day will come when justice and peace will embrace on our earth.
We believe that by dint of scrutinising the outlines of a new world, we will learn to respect, with the same passion as you, all the realities of the present world and to make it more fraternal.
We believe that Jesus is your Yes to life and that he came to save us all.
So, united with all the people of hope, with all the watchers, with all the re-watchers, with all the truth-tellers, with all the humble, we pray to you, Living God, make us artisans of this advent in the strength of your Spirit.
Lord,
may the dynamism of your Spirit give us the boldness of fraternal action,
capable of transforming the face of this world.
May it help us understand what you inspired in Christ Jesus, who came to serve
and reveal to us the one law of love, of God and of our sisters and brothers.
It is through Him that we pray and praise you.
Spirit of God,
You whom a long tradition before us has invoked
as the Father of the poor,
the Defender, the Comforter,
you heal the wounded,
you straighten the stooped.
Putting people on their feet, again and again,
is your work from the beginning!
You are the Wind of God,
blowing where you least expect it,
subversive and free,
you displace and dispossess,
you inspire those who hope,
you prepare the Day of God in those who have nothing,
still offer their neediness.
Spirit of God, living breath,
raised in the death and resurrection of Jesus,
opens our lives to the dimensions of Christ’s Love,
today, always.
God our Father,
Painful and complex current events often weigh down our evening prayer, yet every evening we
want to welcome your blessing of peace, to believe in its fruitfulness in so many men and women of goodwill who, quietly, commit their strength, wherever they are, so that this blessing bears fruit.
Receive our gratitude for them and stand together in the hope that does not disappoint, because the Spirit of Jesus bears witness in our hearts to your Love, God who is, who was and who is to come.
Living God, God of life, blessed are you for all human beings who sow life, their lives so that hope may germinate
hope. Help us to see the seeds of the Spirit sprouting where death imposes its law, where hatred
desertifies hearts. May the Paschal Mystery always be the source from which the disciples of your Son draw
the inner energy to go forward; and may your creative word be heard where people
may your creative word be heard wherever people join forces to fight all death. God who raises up, God who resurrects, hear us, through
Jesus Christ, the First-Born of the multitude of the living.
