PRAY FOR PEACE SCHEDULE OF THE DAY. 4:00 P.M. SOLEMN VESPERS WITH BENEDICTION (Bishop William Murphy, Presiding)

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1 PRAY FOR PEACE SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2014 When believers pray to God for peace, they are recognizing God s power as the often overlooked or ignored source of lasting peace. Bishop William Murphy On the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, join Catholics from across Long Island in praying for peace at the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception. SCHEDULE OF THE DAY 1:00 P.M. EXPOSITION OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT 1:15 P.M. MIDDAY PRAYER 1:30 P.M. SCRIPTURE READING AND REFLECTION 1:45 P.M. LITANY 2:15 P.M. ROSARY 2:45 P.M. SCRIPTURE READING AND REFLECTION 3:00 P.M. LITANY 3:15 P.M. ROSARY 4:00 P.M. SOLEMN VESPERS WITH BENEDICTION (Bishop William Murphy, Presiding) Seminary of the Immaculate Conception 440 West Neck Road, Huntington, NY x 100

2 DIOCESE OF ROCKVILLE CENTRE OFFICE OF WORSHIP 50 North Park Avenue Post Office Box 9023 Rockville Centre, New York Phone: x207 Fax: MEMORANDUM To: All Pastors From: Rev. Lachlan Cameron Date: September 8, 2014 Re: Day of Fasting and Prayer for Peace As you are aware, Bishop Murphy has asked that Saturday, October, 4, 2014, the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, be observed in the Diocese of Rockville Centre as a Day of Fasting and Prayer for Peace. United that day in prayer, we will beseech our heavenly Father to send the peace of his Son on the world, remembering in particular our persecuted brothers and sisters who suffer so unjustly for their faith in Christ Jesus. The day will be observed on different levels: diocesan, parochial, and individual. The diocese will organize an afternoon of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament at the Seminary in Huntington. To conclude that period of prayer, Bishop Murphy will preside and preach at Solemn Vespers and Benediction. At your discretion, parishes may opt to recite the Rosary or gather for a Holy Hour at some point before or after the morning Mass. Individuals may spend time in personal prayer during the course of the day. Though we will gather in different places, our prayer will be one. To assist with your preparation, the Bishop asked the Office of Worship to prepare some materials for your possible use. Please find included in this packet: A flyer advertising the event at the Seminary Various prayers for peace any number of which can be printed in the parish bulletin Suggested petitions for the Prayer of the Faithful at Mass on October 4 th Information on a Holy Hour for Peace Additionally, a second collection to provide humanitarian and pastoral support for Christians and other victims of violence in the Middle East will be taken up on the weekend of September It is hoped that a connection can made between our charity one weekend and prayer the next. Thank you for your efforts in making this day a reality.

3 PRAYERS FOR PEACE PRAYER OF SAINT FRANCIS OF ASSISI Lord, make me an instrument of your peace; Where there is hatred, let me sow charity; Where there is injury, pardon; Where there is error, the truth; Where there is doubt, the faith; Where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy. O, 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; And it is in dying to ourselves that we are born to eternal life. Amen. PRAYER OF POPE SAINT JOHN XXIII Lord Jesus Christ, who is called the Prince of Peace, who are yourself our peace and reconciliation, who so often said, "Peace to you," grant us peace. Make all men and women witnesses of truth, justice, and brotherly love. Banish from their hearts whatever might endanger peace. Enlighten our rulers that they may guarantee and defend the great gift of peace. May all peoples of the earth become as brothers and sisters. May longed-for peace blossom forth and reign always over us all. Amen. PRAYER OF POPE LEO XIII O Lord, you see how everywhere the winds have burst forth, and the sea is convulsed with the great violence of the rising waves. Command, we beseech you who alone are able, both the winds and the sea. Restore to mankind the true peace of your name, that peace which the world cannot give, and the calm of social harmony. Under your favor and inspiration may men return to due order, and having overthrown the rule of greed, bring back again as ought to be, the love of God, justice, charity toward neighbor, temperance in all desires. May your kingdom come. May all recognize that they are subject to you, and must serve you who are truth and salvation; that without you they labor in vain. In your law is reason and fatherly kindness. You are ever at hand with your strength and your copious power to help man to keep it. Life upon earth is a warfare, but you watch the contest and aim man to conquer. The weak you sustain; the victor you crown. Amen.

4 PRAYERS FOR PEACE PRAYER OF POPE FRANCIS Lord God of peace, hear our prayer! We have tried so many times and over so many years to resolve our conflicts by our own powers and by the force of our arms. How many moments of hostility and darkness have we experienced; how much blood has been shed; how many lives have been shattered; how many hopes have been buried But our efforts have been in vain. Now, Lord, come to our aid! Grant us peace, teach us peace; guide our steps in the way of peace. Open our eyes and our hearts, and give us the courage to say: Never again war! ; With war everything is lost. Instill in our hearts the courage to take concrete steps to achieve peace. Lord, God of Abraham, God of the Prophets, God of Love, you created us and you call us to live as brothers and sisters. Give us the strength daily to be instruments of peace; enable us to see everyone who crosses our path as our brother or sister. Make us sensitive to the plea of our citizens who entreat us to turn our weapons of war into implements of peace, our trepidation into confident trust, and our quarreling into forgiveness. Keep alive within us the flame of hope, so that with patience and perseverance we may opt for dialogue and reconciliation. In this way may peace triumph at last, and may the words division, hatred and war be banished from the heart of every man and woman. Lord, defuse the violence of our tongues and our hands. Renew our hearts and minds, so that the word which always brings us together will be brother, and our way of life will always be that of: Shalom, Peace, Salaam! Amen. PRAYER OF POPE SAINT JOHN PAUL II Immaculate Heart of Mary, help us to conquer the menace of evil, which so easily takes root in the hearts of the people of today, and whose immeasurable effects already weigh down upon our modern world and seem to block the paths toward the future. From famine and war, deliver us. From nuclear war, from incalculable self destruction, from every kind of war, deliver us. From sins against human life from its very beginning, deliver us. From hatred and from the demeaning of the dignity of the children of God, deliver us. From readiness to trample on the commandments of God, deliver us. From the loss of awareness of good and evil, deliver us. From sins against the Holy Spirit, deliver us. Accept, O Mother of Christ, this cry laden with the sufferings of all individual human beings, laden with the sufferings of whole societies. Help us with the power of the Holy Spirit conquer all sin: individual sin and the "sin of the world," sin in all its manifestations. Let there be revealed once more in the history of the world the infinite saving power of the redemption: the power of the merciful love. May it put a stop to evil. May it transform consciences. May your Immaculate Heart reveal for all the light of hope. Amen.

5 LITURGICAL SUGGESTIONS AT MASS Mass of the Day: Memorial of St. Francis of Assisi, religious Suggested Petitions for the Prayer of the Faithful: That men and women will recognize God as the source of lasting peace, let us pray to the Lord. For all who live in turmoil, that they may know the peace which Christ alone can give, we pray to the Lord. That all people will follow the example of St. Francis of Assisi and seek to be instruments of peace, we pray to the Lord. That leaders of nations will respect the rights and dignity of every person and strive for a just and lasting peace, we pray to the Lord. For our brothers and sisters who are persecuted for their faith in Christ, that they may find strength in our prayers and be afforded hope, we pray to the Lord. Suggested closing oration for the Prayer of the Faithful: God, Creator of the world, under whose guidance the design for all ages unfolds, be attentive, we pray, to our petitions, and grant to our times tranquility and peace, that we may exult with unceasing joy in praise of your great mercy. Through our Christ our Lord. FOR A HOLY HOUR For parishes interested in offering a period of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, the USCCB has a complete Holy Hour for Peace available on its website: Prayers, readings, and a litany are included in the text.