A Prayer on the 80th Anniversary of D-Day

A Prayer on the 80th Anniversary of D-Day

O Lord, on this 80th Anniversary of D-Day (June 6, 1944), we acknowledge those who landed on the beaches of Normandy, seeking to bring an end to the Nazi occupation to Europe.

We thank you for their courage, for their willingness to serve, for their willingness to lay down their lives for a greater cause. O Lord, we are humbled by their example.

We mourn the lives lost both among the Allies who landed and those who would follow them over the following days and among the Germans who also fought and the civilians who were killed. O Lord, our hearts are broken over the loss of life.

As we stand at another moment when war is again being fought in Europe, a war which threatens to spread beyond Ukraine and Russia, we again mourn the loss of life and we pray for the threats and violence to be turned to peace and empathy for the other. O Lord, send peace.

May we live towards that peace with courage and hope, led by Jesus Christ, who is the Prince of Peace. Amen.