“Concluding Prayer Offered by Fr. John Dear
After the Pax Christi New Mexico, Hiroshima Day
Sackcloth and Ashes Action at Los Alamos, NM,” August 6th, 2005
Dear friends, once again, let’s place ourselves in the presence of the God of peace, and bow our heads in prayer:
God of peace,
Today, we remember our sisters and brothers killed in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and we repent of the atomic bomb, of those horrific acts.
In this place where our country builds and maintains the idols of death, we repent of our nuclear weapons.
In this place where our country threatens the whole human race, and the entire planet, we repent of our nuclear violence.
In this place where we hold the world hostage and commit the ultimate act of terrorism by threatening to use these weapons, we repent of nuclear terrorism.
In this place of ultimate violence, we repent of every form of violence that we personally have practiced and take up your way of Gospel nonviolence.
From now on, we pledge–
In this world of hatred, indifference, fear and anxiety, to be instruments of your love; In this world of selfishness, greed and materialism, to be instruments of your selfless service and generosity; In this world of revenge and retaliation and resentment, to be instruments of your mercy and compassion and forgiveness; In this world of doubt and despair, to be instruments of faith and hope; In this world of lies and darkness, to be instruments of truth and light; In this world of war and nuclear weapons and death, to be instruments of your peace and nonviolence and life.
And so, may the God of peace, who loves each one of you infinitely, send you forth as an instrument of God’s peace, love, and nonviolence, and may the God of peace bless you, the Creator, the Christ and Holy Spirit! Amen.