Peace is fundamental to the Christian faith.
In the book of the prophet Isaiah, long before Jesus’s birth, we learn of his title of Prince of Peace.
“For a child, is born to us, a son is given to us; upon his shoulder dominion rests. They name him Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero, Father-Forever, Prince of Peace.” ~ Isaiah 9:5
In the Gospels, Jesus Himself tells us that he offers us peace.
I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid. ~ John 14:27
We logically know Jesus brings us peace. Yet, both in the world around us and inside our own hearts and minds, it is sometimes difficult to recognize that peace.
Here are some prayers you can use to pray for peace, whether you’re seeking peace in our world or peace in your mind.
Prayers for Peace
Hallow created these simple prayers for peace that you can pray to ask God for peace on earth, in the many forms that that takes.
If you are using these prayers in a group setting, simply change the singular pronouns (“I” and “me”) to plural ones (like “we” and “us”).
You may also find these prayers helpful for praying for peace within families.
- Heavenly Father, you created the earth, the sun, and all of the life that dwells here as part of your creation. I pray that your Holy Spirit may move the hearts of all of Your children toward a radical form of peace that rejects violence and oppression. I understand, o Lord, that conflicts have existed for centuries and can seem impossibly complex and without hope. However, You are a God of peace and healing. Through You, all things are possible. Heal our world. May Your Kingdom come. Amen.
- God of peace and justice, I turn to You today with a heavy heart, overwhelmed by the division and unrest that distances us from each other–and from You. Soften the hearts of those who see their brother as “other”. Remind us all that you call us to live in harmony with each other. May pride never overtake us. May we live to serve, putting others before ourselves. God, may Your peace reign now and forever. Amen.
- Dear God, we know you have conquered the world, including death, and all of the evil that sometimes feels like it surrounds us. In moments like this, where I desperately seek peace, I pray that I can take comfort in Your promise and place my trust in You. I pray that I not only feel Your love but that I become an instrument of it, extending Your loving embrace to those whose lives are most shattered by the sins of violence. In Your name I pray. Amen.
- Holy Spirit come, guide us towards the way of peace. Lead us to build God’s kingdom here on earth. Set our hearts ablaze with a fire for justice. Strengthen us in our mission to follow the path that God leads us toward. I pray for hope, I pray for kindness, I pray for justice. I pray for all these things as I pray for peace. In Jesus’s name I pray. Amen.
Related prayers: Prayers to the Holy Spirit
Prayers for Peace of Mind
Sometimes the peace we desire has less to do with what’s happening out in the world, and what’s happening in the complicated space inside our heads.
If you’ve ever been overcome by worrying, overthinking, restlessness or any other feelings that have left you feeling unsettled, you know that peace of mind is not always easy to come by.
Consider these short prayers whenever you need peace of mind, whether you’re lying in bed struggling to sleep or feeling a lack of peace amid the busyness of your day.
- When my mind races and my heart is unsettled, Lord, I turn to you. Settle my uneasy mind and strengthen me that I may fix my eyes on You and the promise of eternal life secured through Jesus’s victory over death. I love You, Lord, and I trust in You. In Your name I pray. Amen.
- Heavenly Father, Your love for me knows no bounds. You sent Your Son so that I may live forever with you in heaven. Right now, heaven feels far away, and I struggle to feel the peace that I know You provide. Let my mind be calm, my heart be still. Help me to feel Your presence with me now. Clear my mind of worries and fill it with the peace only You provide. In gratitude I pray. Amen.
- Jesus, you calmed the stormy waters in the Sea of Galilee. I imagine how the disciples felt in the boat, far from the safety of dry land, dealing with choppy, turbulent waves, unable to feel peace. It’s a feeling I relate to now. I turn to You as I navigate the storm in my mind and ask You to make it still. Grant me peace, that I may feel rest. You are with me in stormy waters just like You are in the beautiful, still waters of my life. No matter the storm around me, grant that my mind may feel Your peace, trusting in You entirely.
Papal Prayers for Peace in the World
Across centuries, the Holy See has led the faithful around the world in prayers for peace.
Sometimes, this has been in response to specific instances of war and violence around the world.
Other times, these prayers for peace have been general invocations aiming to help God’s peace flourish here on earth.
The amazing thing about these prayers from popes is that, while they are rooted in specific periods of time, they feel just as relevant today in many ways.
Consider the words below, the concluding lines of a prayer from St. Benedict XVI in 1915, following the outbreak of World War I:
- This is the cry of peace which breaks forth from Our heart with added vehemence on this mournful day; and We invite all, whosoever are the friends of peace the world over, to give Us a helping hand in order to hasten the termination of the war, which for a long year has changed Europe into one vast battlefield. May the merciful Jesus, through the intercession of His Sorrowful Mother, grant that at last, after so horrible a storm, the dawn of peace may break, placid and radiant, an image of His own Divine Countenance. May hymns of thanksgiving soon rise to the Most High, the Giver of all good things, for the accomplished reconciliation of the States; may the peoples, bound in bonds of brotherly love, return to the peaceful rivalry of studies, of arts, of industries, and, with the empire of right reestablished, may they resolve from now henceforth to entrust the settlement of their differences, not to the sword’s edge, but to reasons of equity and justice, pondered with due cairn and deliberation. This will be their most splendid and glorious conquest! In loving trust that the tree of peace may soon return to rejoice the world with such desirable fruits, We impart the Apostolic Benediction to all who make up the mystical flock confided to Us, and also for those, who do not yet belong to the Church of Rome, We pray the Lord to draw them close to Us in the bonds of perfect charity.
Similarly, in 1961, Pope John XIII issued this prayer for peace during the Cold War. See the prayer in its entirety here, or spend in time prayer with the final section of it, featured below:
- We would extend our most urgent invitation to prayer to priests, to consecrated souls, to the innocent and to the suffering. Let us all together beg the Father of light and of grace to enlighten the minds and move the wills of those who hold the chief responsibility for the life or death of the peoples; let us pray for the peoples themselves that they may not allow themselves to be dazzled by exacerbated nationalism and destructive rivalry, and that, as We so earnestly exhorted in Our Encyclical “Mater et Magistra”, the relationships in the life of human society may be reintegrated in truth, in justice and in love. Let us all pray that by means of the penetration of the Christian spirit morality may grow strong: the vigorous strength of Christian families, the source of noble power and dignity and of blessed and joyful prosperity. Ever and always let us pray for the peace of Christ here below, between all men of good will: “that all the families of the nations, rent asunder by the wound of sin, may be subjected to the most gentle rule of Christ.” And finally we turn to you, O blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus and our Mother also. How can we, with trembling hearts, apply ourselves to this greatest problem of life or death, which overshadows all mankind, without relying on your intercession to keep us safe from all dangers? This is your hour, Mary; to you Jesus entrusted us in the final moment of His sacrifice of blood. We are confident in your intercession.On the Eighth of September Holy Church kept the feast of your most happy birthday, hailing it as the first beginning of the world’s salvation and the growth of peace. This indeed, is what we beg of you, most loving Mother and Queen of all the world. The world has no need of victorious wars and defeated peoples, but of the renewed strength of salvation and of the fruitfulness and calm of peace: this is its need and this it is for which it cries aloud: “salutis exordum; et pacis incrementum”; “the dawn of salvation and growth of peace. Amen. Amen.”
On World Day of Peace (January 1) in 2006, Pope Benedict XVI prayed for peace through the intercession of Mary, Mother of the Prince of Peace. The full prayer is available here, with the ending excerpt included below:
- At the same time I ask for an increase of prayers, since peace is above all a gift of God, a gift to be implored incessantly. By God’s help, our proclamation and witness to the truth of peace will be all the more convincing and illuminating. With confidence and filial abandonment let us lift up our eyes to Mary, Mother of the Prince of Peace. At the beginning of this New Year, let us ask her to help all God’s People, wherever they may be, to work for peace and to be guided by the light of the truth that sets man free (cf. Jn 8:32). Through Mary’s intercession, may all mankind grow in esteem for this fundamental good and strive to make it ever more present in our world, and, in this way, to offer a safer and more serene future to generations yet to come.
In 2014, Pope Francis issued an invocation for peace at the Vatican Gardens. Following a trip to the Holy Land, he invited Israeli and Palestinian leaders together and called for peace, a message that certainly resonates a decade later:
- 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”. Instil 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.
Bible Verses for Peace
When you’re seeking peace, it can be comforting to simply spend time with the Word of God.
Here are some portions of Scripture you can reflect on and pray with during times where you’re struggling to feel peace.
The Psalms are filled with beautiful words that tell of the peace that only God can provide.
Pslam 124 is one such example:
A song of ascents. Of David.
Had not the Lord been with us,
let Israel say,
Had not the Lord been with us,
when people rose against us,
Then they would have swallowed us alive,
for their fury blazed against us.
Then the waters would have engulfed us,
the torrent overwhelmed us;
then seething water would have drowned us.
Blessed is the Lord, who did not leave us
to be torn by their teeth.
We escaped with our lives like a bird
from the fowler’s snare;
the snare was broken,
and we escaped.
Our help is in the name of the Lord,
the maker of heaven and earth.
This passage from Joshua reminds us that God is faithful to His promise to us, giving His people peace “on every side.”
And so the Lord gave Israel the entire land he had sworn to their ancestors he would give them. Once they had taken possession of it, and dwelt in it, the Lord gave them peace on every side, just as he had promised their ancestors. Not one of their enemies could withstand them; the Lord gave all their enemies into their power. Not a single word of the blessing that the Lord had promised to the house of Israel failed; it all came true. ~ Joshua 21:43-45
Consider this passage from 1 Kings, which reminds us that when everything around us feels like chaos, God is present with us in the peace of silence.
Then the Lord said: Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord; the Lord will pass by. There was a strong and violent wind rending the mountains and crushing rocks before the Lord—but the Lord was not in the wind; after the wind, an earthquake—but the Lord was not in the earthquake; after the earthquake, fire—but the Lord was not in the fire; after the fire, a light silent sound. ~ 1 Kings 19:11-12
Here are some other Bible verses for peace you can pray with.
More Prayer Resources
When you’re struggling, you’re never alone. God is always here for us. Here are some resources to help you begin a conversation with God in moments when you’re struggling.