Post by Fr David Neuhaus SJ | 20 July 2026
Prayer from Palestine: Mountains bring peace
Emeritus Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Michel Sabbah, is a spiritual father to me and to many seeking equality, justice and peace in Palestine/Israel. He is now 93 years old and follows events with wisdom, understanding and spiritual insight. He has composed a prayer that was published in Italian on a website providing insights into the situation in Palestine: https://bocchescucite.org/preghiere-dalla-palestina-montagne-portate-pace/
I have translated it into English so that we can pray together.
We linger on in a state of death, Lord.
Israel says to the Palestinian people: you have no right to exist here.
And we Palestinians respond: we are in our home, in our country and on our land.
Meanwhile, army incursions and settler attacks continue.
And still many dead, homes demolished, people forced to abandon their villages,
and thousands of prisoners whom no one speaks of.
And in Gaza?
The extermination continues, while it is repeated that the war is over.
Israel attacked Iran, and on June 15 an accord was signed with Iran.
But south Lebanon is not included in the accord…
Nor is Gaza…
Nor are the settlers who are devastating our homeland.
“Mountains, bring peace to the people! Hills, bring justice!” (Psalm 72:3)
For years and years, Lord, oppressed and abandoned to destruction, we have begged you:
Bring us out of this pit of death, in which genocide has preyed on our entire people.
Even the psalmist no longer knows who to turn to for help.
We have cried out to you: “Save us, Lord! We are perishing. (cf. Matthew 8:25)”
They continue to kill Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
Our entire land has been caught up in the plan to destroy the Palestinian people.
Lord, have mercy.
Our land is a cemetery of death: save us!
Lord, grant justice to this land: you made it holy.
But men have reduced it to ashes, making it uninhabitable.
All our hills in the West Bank have been occupied.
The expanses of our olive groves are being burned by settlers.
The cities and villages of Gaza have been razed to the ground.
The roads are not even there any longer.
Your Holy Land is in the hands of those who do not want peace: help us!
We can only extend our plea before all creation:
May your creation, Lord, bring us peace and justice.
May the birds of the air sing of your mercy and the liberation of the Holy Land.
May the lilies of the field proclaim your justice among the peoples who inhabit it.
May the waters of the Jordan, the river of Palestine, where you too were baptized
Wash away the river of blood from the massacre of thousands of Palestinian children.
And I, with them, implore you:
“Save me, O God! The waters have risen to my throat!” (Ps 68:2).
Have mercy.
“Mountains, bring peace to the people! Hills, bring justice!”
Michel Sabbah, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Emeritus