By Maria Hayes
On June 27, people from Christian, Jewish, Islamic, Buddhist and Hindu faith traditions gathered at the Church of St. Francis of Assisi in New York City to pray for peace in the Holy Land.
Throughout the evening, different forms of prayer rang out through the church, lifted toward the heavens by the faith of those present:
“Lord, make me a channel of your peace...”
“Oh God, you are peace. From you comes peace. To you returns peace...”
“All tremble at violence; all fear death. Putting oneself in the place of another, one should not kill nor cause another to kill...”
“May everyone be happy. May everyone be free from all difficulties. May everyone see, hear and pursue only goodness and auspiciousness in everything...”
The evening began with the popular Catholic hymn “Make Me a Channel of Your Peace,” based on a prayer attributed to St. Francis of Assisi. Leaders of the different faith traditions shared prayers, reflections, songs and chants from their communities.
“It is an honor and privilege to gather in our different faith communities to show that we are united in love for our world, and that what we seek is peace,” said pastor Fr. Joseph Juracek, OFM, said as he greeted attendees. “We pray that one day, all human beings will understand that war is evil. Killing each other never solves any problems, it only creates more.
“Let us pray today that God touches the minds and hearts of everyone in this world to know that love is the answer that we are all looking for,” he added.
Call for peace
The war between Israel and Hamas has claimed nearly 40,000 lives so far. The Franciscan Action Network, the Catholic Advisory Council of Churches for Middle East Peace, Pax Christi International, and the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns invite all Catholic people and organizations in the United States to sign an open letter to elected officials expressing grief and dismay over the horrors that have occurred in Israel-Palestine over the last six months.