Prayer

Here is an interesting article on soldiers, war, and prayer from the Jerusalem Post. (The link was noted in The Corner.) That the confluence should seem unusual is a modern invention.

From the old votive collects in the traditional Roman Rite:

Hostium nostrorum, quæsumus, Domine, elide superbiam: et eorum contumaciam dextereæ tuæ virtute poresterne. Per Dominum nostrum. Amen.
[Crush, O Lord, we pray Thee, the pride of our enemies, and humble their insolence by the power of Thy right hand. Through Our Lord. Amen.]

Or another, this one "for our enemies". It prays for their good but is still under no illusions that they are, indeed, our enemies.

Deus, pacis caritatisque amator et custos: da omnibus inimicis nostris pacem caritatemque veram: et cunctorum eis remissionem tribue peccatorum, nosque ab eorum insidiis potenter eripe. Per Dominum nostrum. Amen.
[O God, the lover and guardian of peace and charity, grant to all our enemies true peace and charity, together with remission of all their sins, and by Thy power deliver us from their wiles. Through Our Lord. Amen.]