FULL PRAYER
Dear brothers and sisters, in the pain of this war let us pray together asking the Lord for forgiveness and peace.
We will say a prayer written by an Italian bishop.
Forgive us for war, Lord.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us sinners.
Lord Jesus. Born under the bombs of Kiev, have mercy on us.
Lord Jesus, dead in his mother's arms in a bunker in Kharkiv, have mercy on us.
Lord Jesus, sent to the front lines at twenty years old, have mercy on us.
Lord Jesus, who still see armed hands in the shadow of your cross, have mercy on us.
Forgive us, Lord. Forgive us if, not content with the nails with which we pierce your hand, we continue to drink the blood of the dead torn by weapons.
Forgive us if these hands you which created to protect have become instruments of death.
Forgive us, O Lord, forgive us if we continue to kill our brother, if we continue, like Cain, to take the stones from our field to kill Abel.
Forgive us if we continue to justify cruelty with our fatigue, if with our pain we legitimize the violence of our actions.
Forgive us for war, Lord. Forgive us for war.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, we implore you. Stop the hand of Cain. Enlighten our conscience, do not let our will be done, do not abandon us in our actions.
Stop us, Lord, stop us. And when you have stopped the hand of Cain, take care of him. He is also our brother.
O Lord. Put an end to violence. Stop us, O Lord, Amen.
