ROME, org. “Lord, defuse the violence of our tongues and our hands, renew our hearts and minds, so that the word which always brings us together will be ‘brother'” and our way of life will always be that of: Shalom, Peace, Salaam! Amen.” Pope Francis achieved something that just a few months ago would have been unthinkable: to unite Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and pray together for peace among Jews and Palestinians. He did this, accompanied by the simultaneous prayers of many – at the Basilica in Fatima, Portugal, many Schoenstatt shrines, parishes. The president of the Argentinean Bishops’ Conference wrote to Pope Francis: “Responding to your request to accompany you during these moments of special importance for peace in the world, we have invited all of the Argentinean people, your homeland, to unite in our own holy places in a prayer to God, with childlike trust and the awareness of knowing that we are brothers.”
A giant step towards peace throughout the world, from the view of the same God who created us and watches over us. “That is why we are here, because we know and we believe that we need the help of God. We do not renounce our responsibilities, but we do call upon God in an act of supreme responsibility before our consciences and before our peoples,” said Francis, who insisted that “It calls for the courage to say yes to encounter and no to conflict: yes to dialogue and no to violence; yes to negotiations and no to hostilities; yes to respect for agreements and no to acts of provocation; yes to sincerity and no to duplicity.”
Pope Francis personally went out to welcome the two heads of state. Following the protocol, Mahmoud Abbas was the first to arrive and the Pope held a brief meeting with him in one of the rooms at Casa Santa Marta. Both leaders, Catholic and Palestine, could be seen smiling and hopeful throughout.
May God Bless you!
Twenty minutes later, Israeli President Shimon Peres arrived. The image of the embrace between the Palestinian and Israeli leader, with the Pope as witness, would be shown around the world and may serve towards a peaceful future in the Holy Land “May God bless you!” was Peres’ greeting to Abbas. The smiles multiplied when the fourth invited guest arrived – Patriarch Bartholomew.
The four, together with the custodian for the Holy Land, climbed into a van that took them to the Vatican Gardens, where Catholic, Orthodox, Jewish and Muslim leaders were waiting for them to begin the prayer for historic peace.
Several minutes later, the five arrived at the Vatican Gardens, the venue chosen for its prayerful atmosphere with St Peters in the background. At the centre, Abbas, Francis and Peres. To the left, Bartholomew. On both sides, representatives of the three religions of the Book and the Palestinian and Israeli governments.
The ceremony began soon after with a musical introduction and the announcement that “Israelis, Palestinians, Jews, Christians, and Muslims are gathered to offer their prayer for peace in the Holy Land and to all its inhabitants.
The chosen locale, which was devoid of religious connotations, is a triangular grassed area located between Casina Pio IV, the headquarters for the Pontifical Academy for the Sciences, and the Vatican Museums, which is surrounded by bushes and has a view of the dome of St. Peters.
Before the start of the celebration, Pope Francis posted on his Twitter account: “I ask all people of good will to join us today in praying for peace in the Middle East.”
Petition for peace
They were welcomed with a short musical piece played on a violin, oboe, cello and harp (which also accompanied the transition between the various moments of prayer), and an explanation in English as to the order of the interventions, following a strict historical order: first the Jews, followed by the Christians and finally the Muslims. The first part of the celebration was to praise God for the gift of creation, and forgiveness for sins against God and neighbour. Finally, the much awaited moment: the petition of peace between Jews and Palestinians, in the Holy Land, throughout the Middle East, and for all humanity.
The Jewish prayer was the longest, with the intervention of various representatives. Followed by an Orthodox representative and Cardinal Turkson on behalf of the Catholic Church. There were also several Muslim representatives, prolonging the much awaited moment of the prayer: the Pope’s intervention, and finally those of Presidents Peres and Abbas.
At the end of all this, there was another embrace and a gesture of peace. The four leaders planted a small olive tree, as a symbol of what they desire to achieve, and “it will not be easy but we will fight for this for as long as we have life” (in the words of Peres), in the Vatican Gardens.
These were the Holy Father’s words:
Distinguished Presidents,
I greet you with immense joy and I wish to offer you, and the eminent delegations accompanying you, the same warm welcome which you gave to me during my recent pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
I am profoundly grateful to you for accepting my invitation to come here and to join in imploring from God the gift of peace. It is my hope that this meeting will be a path to seeking the things that unite, so as to overcome the things that divide.
I also thank Your Holiness, my venerable Brother Bartholomaios, for joining me in welcoming these illustrious guests. Your presence here is a great gift, a much-appreciated sign of support, and a testimony to the pilgrimage which we Christians are making towards full unity.
Your presence, dear Presidents, is a great sign of brotherhood which you offer as children of Abraham. It is also a concrete expression of trust in God, the Lord of history, who today looks upon all of us as brothers and who desires to guide us in his ways.
This meeting of prayer for peace in the Holy Land, in the Middle East and in the entire world is accompanied by the prayers of countless people of different cultures, nations, languages and religions: they have prayed for this meeting and even now they are united with us in the same supplication. It is a meeting which responds to the fervent desire of all who long for peace and dream of a world in which men and women can live as brothers and sisters and no longer as adversaries and enemies.
Dear Presidents, our world is a legacy bequeathed to us from past generations, but it is also on loan to us from our children: our children who are weary, worn out by conflicts and yearning for the dawn of peace, our children who plead with us to tear down the walls of enmity and to set out on the path of dialogue and peace, so that love and friendship will prevail.
Many, all too many, of those children have been innocent victims of war and violence, saplings cut down at the height of their promise. It is our duty to ensure that their sacrifice is not in vain. The memory of these children instils in us the courage of peace, the strength to persevere undaunted in dialogue, the patience to weave, day by day, an ever more robust fabric of respectful and peaceful coexistence, for the glory of God and the good of all.
Peacemaking calls for courage, much more so than warfare. It calls for the courage to say yes to encounter and no to conflict: yes to dialogue and no to violence; yes to negotiations and no to hostilities; yes to respect for agreements and no to acts of provocation; yes to sincerity and no to duplicity. All of this takes courage, it takes strength and tenacity.
History teaches that our own powers do not suffice. More than once we have been on the verge of peace, but the evil one, employing a variety of means, has succeeded in blocking it. That is why we are here, because we know and we believe that we need the help of God. We do not renounce our responsibilities, but we do call upon God in an act of supreme responsibility before our consciences and before our peoples. We have heard a summons, and we must respond. It is the summons to break the spiral of hatred and violence, and to break it by one word alone: the word “brother”. But to be able to utter this word we have to lift our eyes to heaven and acknowledge one another as children of one Father.
To him, the Father, in the Spirit of Jesus Christ, I now turn, begging the intercession of the Virgin Mary, a daughter of the Holy Land and our Mother.
Lord God of peace, hear our prayer!
We have tried so many times and over so many years to resolve our conflicts by our own powers and by the force of our arms. How many moments of hostility and darkness have we experienced; how much blood has been shed; how many lives have been shattered; how many hopes have been buried… But our efforts have been in vain.
Now, Lord, come to our aid! Grant us peace, teach us peace; guide our steps in the way of peace. Open our eyes and our hearts, and give us the courage to say: “Never again war!”; “With war everything is lost”. Instil in our hearts the courage to take concrete steps to achieve peace.
Lord, God of Abraham, God of the Prophets, God of Love, you created us and you call us to live as brothers and sisters. Give us the strength daily to be instruments of peace; enable us to see everyone who crosses our path as our brother or sister. Make us sensitive to the plea of our citizens who entreat us to turn our weapons of war into implements of peace, our trepidation into confident trust, and our quarreling into forgiveness.
Keep alive within us the flame of hope, so that with patience and perseverance we may opt for dialogue and reconciliation. In this way may peace triumph at last, and may the words “division”, “hatred” and “war” be banished from the heart of every man and woman. Lord, defuse the violence of our tongues and our hands. Renew our hearts and minds, so that the word which always brings us together will be “brother”, and our way of life will always be that of: Shalom, Peace, Salaam!
Amen.
With material from Religión digital, Spain (article by Jesús Bastante), AICA, Newsletter of the Shrine in Fatima, Radio Vatican.
Original: Spanish. Translation: Sarah-Leah Pimentel, Cape Town, South Africa
