These past few weeks our community has been wrought with senseless violence! Gang members, Providence Street Workers of the Nonviolence Institute; families, innocents ... all affected. The St. Michael's community issues a call to action for prayer and effort to end the violence and bring about peace. We recall the words of Saint Augustine, " Pray as though everything depended upon God and work as though everything depended upon you"

Prayer for Peace
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace, Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy; O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

- St. Francis

Act for Peace
The Institute for the Study & Practice of Nonviolence

The Six Principles of Nonviolence
(1) Nonviolence is for courageous people
(2) Build the Beloved Community everywhere you go
(3) Attack the forces of evil, not persons doing evil
(4) Accept suffering without retaliation, for the sake of the just cause
(5) Avoid inner violence of the spirit as well as outward physical violence
(6) The universe is on the side of justice

The Six Steps of Nonviolence to Solve Any Problem
(1) Gather information
(2) Share the information with all who care about the problem
(3) Strengthen your own committment
(4) Negotiate with dignity for all
(5) If negotiations fail, take appropriate direct action, then negotiate again
(6) Always reconcile. Celebrate reconciliation!

-Martin Luther King Jr.


There is more we can do in prayer and action, please share your ideas!
- The St. Michael's Pastoral team