Pope: We call upon God in an act of supreme responsibility before our consciences and before our peoples
Vatican City (AsiaNews) - " 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".
The Pope is flanked by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, and the Presidents Shimon Peres of Israel, and Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority. With them, there are also rabbis from diverse traditions (with different yarmulkes), Muslim and Druze imams and muftis, cardinals, bishops, the custodian of the Holy Land, Fr. Pizzaballa. Theophilos III, Greek-orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem is also present for the important meeting today. In the group, invited by the Pope, there are also Rabbi Abram Skorka and Imam Omar Abboud both from Buenos Aires, longtime friends of the pontiff's.
The meeting is structured with in three phases prayers of praise for creation, with a request for forgiveness, with a prayer for peace, carried out by the three groups Jewish, Christian and Muslim. Every prayer, or reading, or chant is interspersed with a musical meditation: violins, harp and flute.
The soothing rhythm , the music, the proximity between rabbis and imams, Christians, Muslims and Jews, Israelis and Palestinians, courtesy, smiles, until final embrace between the Pope and the two presidents and two presidents among them, the tranquility and green of the Vatican gardens makes it all seem like a dream, or prophecy of fraternity.
"Your presence - the pope said at the end of his speech-prayer - 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 is echoed by Shimon Peres in his speech, who said: "On this moving occasion, brimming with hope and full of faith, let us all raise with you, Your Holiness, a call for peace between religions, between nations, between communities, and between fellow men and women. Let true peace become our legacy soon and swiftly".
Abbas uses similar words: "I thank Your Holiness from the bottom of my heart for taking this important meeting here in the Vatican" and concluded his speech thus: "We want peace for us and for our neighbors. We seek prosperity and peace of mind for ourselves and for others alike. O Lord, answer our prayers and make successful our endeavors for you are most just, most merciful, Lord of the Worlds".
Both leaders cited Jerusalem, the holy city of peace; the Psalms asking for peace for the city; commitment before God, Mahmoud Abbas even quotes St. John Paul II, when he said: "If peace is realized in Jerusalem, peace will be witnessed in the whole world".
And Peres: "We are all equal before the Lord. We are all part of the human family. For without peace, we are not complete, and we have yet to achieve the mission of humanity. Peace does not come easy. We must toil with all our strengths to reach it. To reach it soon. Even if it requires sacrifice or compromise".
The atmosphere of dream or prophecy is crossed by the awareness of the problems that leaders face. Both the Islamic and Jewish prayers speak of "oppression" and "enemies"; Abbas asks God for "a sovereign and independent" because "our region and its people need security, safety and stability."; Peres said that "two peoples - Israelis and Palestinians - still ardently desire peace," and that "we must put an end to the cries, to the violence, to the conflict. We all need peace. Peace between equals".
The pope, as if expressing the feelings of both, addressing both, says: "Mr. 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 strength alone does 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".
After the embrace between the Pope, the two leaders and the Ecumenical Patriarch, together they planted a small olive tree a few steps from where the meeting for peace was held.
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09/06/2014
