Peace Sunday follows the international World Day of Peace and is celebrated in the parishes of England and Wales on the Second Sunday of Ordinary Time. In 2023 this falls on 15 January.
The theme is taken from the Holy Father’s 2023 Message for World Peace Day is: “No one can be saved alone. Combatting Covid-19 together, embarking together on paths of peace.” Full Message
Pax Christi provides parish resources, posters, podcasts, family activities, resources for children and more. Visit the Pax Christi website for more.
A video from the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development for the World Day of Peace.
2022 has been a year of war and rumours of war. Lives lost, people displaced, fear and suspicion overwhelming many communities around the world. These wars are also contributing to the destruction of our environment. Sometimes it feels as though we have moved backwards in our efforts to bring peace and justice to our world.
However, the constant, faithful voice of Pope Francis urges us to keep going. Whether he is speaking about Ukraine and Russia, Yemen or the Middle East, his message is always the same: No to war and no to the trade in weapons that fuel war. His All Saints Angelus message offers these questions: ‘Brothers and sisters, let us look within and ask ourselves: are we peacemakers? In the places where we live, study and work, do we bring tension, words that hurt, chatter that poisons, controversy that divides? Or do we open up the way to peace?’
Pax Christi England and Wales works all year round to ‘open up the way of peace’.
O God of peace, who are peace itself
and whom a spirit of discord
cannot grasp,
nor a violent mind receive,
grant that those who are one in heart
may persevere in what is good
and that those in conflict
may forget evil and so be healed.
Amen
One of the following may be used or adapted according to local needs:
For peace between nations,
a lasting peace with justice.
For individuals, groups or movements that promote war and conflict,
that Christ, the Prince of Peace, might turn hearts to a culture of life.
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