Today to start out our conversation about peace seems unfitting in a way when we reflect on what has happened in our country this week. Twenty-seven people lost their lives to senseless violence. Our hearts have been broken and a heaviness continues to linger. The other day I posted on Facebook the following prayer by Teresa of Ávila about peace, faith and hope. It has resonated in my being as I try to make sense of what has happened.
“May today there be peace within.
May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.
May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.
May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you.
May you be content knowing that you are a child of God.
Let this presence settle into our bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love.
It is there for each and everyone of you.”
― Teresa of Ávila
“We must give our troubled hearts a rest and banish your fears. This is my commandment love one another as I have loved you. There is no greater love than this.” (Taken from Laurence Freeman’s introductory speech in the CD entitled “The Way of Peace”). We are a nation hungry for wisdom and peace.
The Way of Peace is a CD that is being highlighted in this weeks Weekly Teaching. While the main topic concerns itself with if we use Jesus to justify violence, it’s relevant as we look at a more global understanding of peace for the world.
My wish for you, during this next week, find time for needed silence to meditate to find peace within yourself so that you may be a beacon for others.
How are you coping? What have you found to give you peace during this turbulent time?
Peace
I just found this wonderful blog today when looking at this week’s newsletter. I have read through all of the postings and am thankful for the work that has gone into it. I have enjoyed Karen Woods’ posts and poems. Thanks, Karen.
Twenty-eight lives were lost that day, including the perpetrator and his mother, and most who spoke of this incident said, there were twenty-six victims.
It was a true blessing to hear Robbie Parker, father of Emilie Parker, a six year old victim, speak of turning the shooting into something that will “inspire us to be better, to more compassionate and more humble people.”
The following is what I felt compelled to send out to family and friends and my local and national legislators after the tragic events in Newtown, CT.
Words seem so insufficient in the wake of last Friday’s tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut. Nevertheless I wanted to honor the memory of these little ones and the adults who lost their lives in this incomprehensible event.
The best that I see myself doing is behaving in a manner that promotes peace, love, respect, kindness and civility.
Three days before this sad day, I read in a book I have and love, Prayers for Healing, that in 1946 the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund [UNICEF] was founded. This is the prayer/poem that was written for that day. It is by Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president of The Children’s Defense Fund. [For those who want to look at the website: http://www.childrensdefense.org/
O God of the children of Somalia, Sarajevo, South Africa, and South Carolina
Of Albania, Alabama, Bosnia, and Boston,
Of Cracow and Cairo, Chicago and Croatia,
Help us to love and respect and protect them all.
O God of Black and Brown and White and Albino
children and those all mixed together,
Of children who are rich and poor and in between,
Of children who speak English and Spanish and
Russian and Hmong and languages our ears
cannot discern,
Help us to love and respect and protect them all.
O god of the child prodigy and the child prostitute,
of the child of rapture and the child of rape,
Of runaway or thrown-away children who struggle
every day without parent or place or friend
or future,
Help us to love and respect and protect them all.
O God of children who can walk and talk and hear
and see and sing and dance and jump and
play and of children who wish they could
but can’t,
Of children who are loved and unloved, wanted and unwanted,
Help us to love and respect and protect them all.
O God of beggar, beaten, abused, neglected,
homeless, AIDS, drug, and hunger-ravaged
children
Of children who are emotionally and physically and mentally fragile,
and of children who rebel and ridicule, torment and
taunt,
Help us to love and respect and protect them all.
O God of children of destiny and of despair, of war
and of peace,
Of disfigured, diseased, and dying children,
Of children without hope and of children with hope
to spare and to share,
Help us to love and respect and protect them all.
I keep hearing the words from John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address in 1961 ringing in my ears, “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”
And so, my dear friends, I ask you to reflect, not on what your country can do to avoid another tragedy like this, but what you can do for the children of our country and the world to “Help us to love and respect and protect them all.”
Yours in peace, love and respect,
Susan
i agree with your conclusions and will eagerly look forward to your incoming updates. just saying thanks will not just be enough, for the phenomenal clarity in your writing. lista de email lista de email lista de email lista de email lista de email