Pray weekly with and for Colombia
Join our sisters and brothers in Colombia in weekly prayers for peace.
Religious People, Priests, and Spiritual Leaders Committed to a Humanitarian Accord and Negotiated End to the Conflict in Colombia
We invite all Christians and citizens of faith to hold times of prayer, symbolic religious observances, and/or vigils for humanitarian exchange, truth and justice as a way out of Colombia's civil war.
INVITATION
Take a moment for prayer every Thursday at 8:00pm (9:00pm Eastern time,
U.S.A.)
FIRST THURSDAY OF THE MONTH
Let us pray:
- That Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe would facilitate and guarantee conditions for the liberation of Captain Pablo Emilio Moncayo, Private Josué Daniel Calvo Sánchez, and the remains of Major Julián Ernesto Guevara, a unilateral commitment made by the FARC guerrillas.
- That the government and the FARC guerrillas would be willing to diligently undertake a humanitarian exchange that would make possible the freedom of 22 members of the armed forces and the political prisoners, as has been done in the past.
Biblical illumination: Ecclesiastes 8:8-9
"No one has power over the wind to restrain the wind, or power over the day of death; weapons are no use in such a war, nor does wickedness deliver those who practice it. All this I observed, applying my mind to all that is done under the sun, while one person exercises authority over another to the other's hurt."
SECOND THURSDAY OF THE MONTH
Let us pray:
- That the victims (of forced disappearance, assassinations, massacres, forced displacement, "false positives", those deprived of liberty, and those who face discrimination because of their ethnicity, sexuality, or other social factors...) whose right to truth, justice, and reparations has been recognized, might become participants, alongside the various sectors of society, in a negotiated end to the armed conflict between the FARC and ELN guerrillas and the Colombian State.
Biblical illumination: Psalm 62: 2-7
"God alone is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall never be shaken.
How long will you assail a person,
will you batter a victim, all of you,
as you would a leaning wall, a tottering fence?
Their only plan is to bring down a person of prominence.
They take pleasure in falsehood;
they bless with their mouths,
but inwardly they curse.
For God alone my soul waits in silence,
for my hope is from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
On God rests my deliverance and my honor;
my mighty rock, my refuge is in God.
THIRD THURSDAY OF THE MONTH
Let us pray:
- That citizens of Colombia and of the world, women and men of faith (Christians of all traditions and religious people of different faiths) might express our solidarity with all the victims and commit ourselves to a diplomatic end to the armed conflict in Colombia between the FARC and ELN guerrillas and the Colombian State.
Biblical illumination: Ezekiel 37: 11-14
"Then the Lord said to me, `Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, "Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely." Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people. I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act, says the Lord.'"
FOURTH THURSDAY OF THE MONTH
Let us pray:
- For the work already being done by different groups of Colombian society for the liberation of those deprived of their freedom, for the humanization of the war between the Colombian State and the FARC and ELN guerrillas, for the diplomatic end to this political, social, and military conflict; for the building of a just and worthy peace.
Biblical illumination: Lucas 4:16-19
"When Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled
the scroll and found the place where it was written:`The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.'"
Please share concerns and information about your activities with
religiososporlapaz@gmail.com
"Steadfast love and truth will meet;
righteousness and peace will kiss each other.
Truth will spring up from the ground,
and justice will look down from the sky."
Psalm 85: 10-11
