Praying for peace is a call for your own action.

Regarding war or conflict: what can you do? You can first remove yourself from blaming. You can remove yourself from hating the behavior of one party or another, for when you feel that hate, when you feel that disgust, you are not in a position to demonstrate in your actions the shared unity of all. Understand that all grounds of conflict are felt to have a base upon reasonable beliefs. Whether or not you agree with them, it is your respecting and acknowledging their beliefs and the beliefs of all as being valid that is indeed essential.

Pray for peace knowing that that prayer is in fact a call for your own action, your own personal response. Let that prayerful response demonstrate your full commitment to the humanity, the equality, the dignity of all human beings. That is what you can do. There may be those who observe what you demonstrate through your perception of God’s presence. There will be others who ignore and disagree and even resent the equanimity that you demonstrate. You cannot be responsible for the behavior of many others, but you are responsible for how you view the unity that you seek from the heart to affirm.

Be the peace you pray for. Be the affirmation of the unity of all that you pray for. Be the one who affirms the dignity of all parties in a conflict that you pray for. Allow your heart to be opened to God’s loving presence, that in your thoughts and in all that you do, allow God’s light as you perceive it to be the light as you give it.

You can be an agent of peace, an agent of love, an agent of unity. Listen with a loving heart, and open the eyes of your spirit to the loving Light always.