Thursday, September 20, 2007

International Day of Peace Vigil

Individuals and nations, acting in concert, DO make a difference in the quality of our lives, our institutions, our environment and our planetary future. Through cooperation, we manifest the essential spirit that unites us amid our diverse ways.

Around the world and at Central this Friday, September 21, there will be a moment of silence to acknowledge the need for global peace. The goal, here, is to promote the day as one dedicated to nonviolence and global ceasefire:

The International Day of Peace, established in 1981 by the United Nations, is observed annually on 21 September.

In its unanimous resolution, all 191 countries of the General Assembly called upon governments, non-governmental organizations, leaders and individuals to work for a complete day of ceasefire and non-violence. If one day of peace is possibly, why not everyday?

The IDP Vigil is a call for all religious, spiritual and interfaith leaders to rally their communities to observe the day in prayer or other spiritual observations. Peace, after all, is a deeply spiritual act.

Litany for Peace

Immaculate Heart of Mary,
help us to conquer the menace of evil,
which so easily takes root in the hearts of the people of today,
and whose immeasurable effects
already weigh down upon our modern world
and seem to block the paths toward the future.

From famine and war, deliver us.
From nuclear war, from incalculable self-destruction, from every kind of war, deliver us.
From sins against human life from its very beginning, deliver us.
From hatred and from the demeaning of the dignity of the children of God, deliver us.
From every kind of injustice in the life of society, both national and international, deliver us.
From readiness to trample on the commandments of God, deliver us.
From attempts to stifle in human hearts the very truth of God, deliver us.
From the loss of awareness of good and evil, deliver us.
From sins against the Holy Spirit, deliver us.

Accept, O Mother of Christ,
this cry laden with the sufferings of all individual human beings,
laden with the sufferings of whole societies.

Help us with the power of the Holy Spirit to conquer all sin:
Individual sin and the 'sin of the world,'
sin in all of its manifestations.

Let there be revealed once more in the history of the world
the infinite saving power of the redemption:
the power of merciful love.

May it put a stop to evil.
May it transform consciences.
May your Immaculate Heart reveal for all the light of hope.
AMEN.


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