From Regret to Repentance to Hope:
A Prayer Service for the Future of Iraq
(Click here for a printable version of this prayer service)
Call to Prayer
(Light peace candle)
To you, Creator of nature and humanity, of truth and beauty, we pray:
Hear our voices, for they are the voices of the victims of war and violence; hear our voices, for they are the voices of children who suffer when people put their faith in weapons and war; hear our voices, when we beg You to instill into the hearts of all human beings the wisdom of peace, the strength of justice and the joy of fellowship; hear our voices for we speak for the multitudes in every country and every period of history who do not want war and are ready to walk the road of peace; hear our voices, and grant insight and strength so that we may always respond to hatred with love, to injustice with total dedication to justice, to need with sharing of self, to war with peace. O God, hear our voices, and grant unto the world Your everlasting peace. (Adapted from Pope John Paul II Prayer for Peace 2003)
Litany of Regret
Let us acknowledge the history of our nation’s relationship with Iraq and pray for forgiveness. Our response is: Jesus, forgive us.
For the times we have failed to choose life over death. . . Jesus, forgive us.
For the times we have chosen ignorance over knowledge. . . Jesus, forgive us.
For the times we have not stood up to evil. . . Jesus, forgive us.
For our nation’s support of the regime of Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war. . . Jesus, forgive us.
For the chemical and conventional weapons our nation sold to Iraq in the 1980s. . . Jesus, forgive us.
For our nation’s willingness to partner with brutal dictatorships when it serves its own political agenda. . . Jesus, forgive us.
For the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who died during the First Gulf War. . . Jesus, forgive us.
For the environmental damage to air and water, the babies born with deformities, and soldiers and civilians suffering from strange illnesses due to our use of depleted uranium munitions in the First Gulf War. . . Jesus, forgive us.
For the bombing of Iraq’s civilian infrastructure during the First Gulf War. . . Jesus, forgive us.
For twelve years of crippling economic sanctions which left hundreds of thousands of innocent children dead because they had no medicines or food. . . Jesus, forgive us.
For our own addiction to oil and the policies which fuel the addiction. . . Jesus, forgive us.
For the seeds of grief and anger we planted in generations of young people who saw their brothers and sisters die because of the sanctions. . . Jesus, forgive us.
For the lies which our government perpetrated to make its case for war against Iraq, especially the suggestions that Iraq was responsible for 9-11. . . Jesus, forgive us.
For the ongoing rape of Iraq’s natural resources to serve the corporate greed of U.S. and transnational corporations. . . Jesus, forgive us.
For our government’s sanction and use of torture. . . Jesus, forgive us.
For military assaults against mosques. . . Jesus, forgive us.
For the racism that is inherent in our policies toward Iraq and throughout the Middle East. . . Jesus, forgive us.
For our nation’s military occupation of Iraq and manipulation of its internal politics. . . Jesus, forgive us.
For the mounting deaths of U.S. soldiers and Iraqi civilians. . . Jesus, forgive us.
For the times we have not stood up to evil. . . Jesus, forgive us.
For the times we have chosen ignorance over knowledge. . . Jesus, forgive us.
For the times we have failed to choose life over death. . . Jesus, forgive us.
Reflective Silence
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 140
Response: Deliver our nation and our world, O God.
O God, deliver our nation and our world
from those in positions of authority
who resort to violence to carry out their objectives.
They sweet-talk us into believing they are acting in our interest, and brainwash us into blind, flag-waving allegiance, until we march by their side
into bloody wars that decimate and destroy our brothers and sisters in the family of God.
Response: Deliver our nation and our world, O God.
Deliver all of us, O God, from the notion that anything of value or worth can be obtained by hostile or violent actions.
Response: Deliver our nation and our world, O God.
We know You are on the side of those who are afflicted. And that You will justly deal with those of violence, and show mercy upon the victims of their obscene actions.
Response: Deliver our nation and our world, O God.
Help us, O God, even at the risk of our lives and well-being, to overcome hate with love, and to be peacemakers in a world that is so wracked and distorted by the atrocities of war.
Response: Deliver our nation and our world, O God.
(Adapted from Psalms/Now by Leslie Brandt, Concordia Publishing House. 1973)
Continued...
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