Written by Barb Spies, OFS, Director of Mission Services and Pastoral Care

Recently, the president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, called for a Holy Hour of Prayer for Peace in our country. Archbishop Coakley said, “Your faithfulness matters. Your prayers matter. Your acts of love and works of justice matter.” On Friday, we had a Holy Hour of Prayer in the chapel. We had some prayer cards to guide us along the way in our time of meditation. For those on campus, you can find these on the table outside the chapel. I will include some of those quotations in this message as well.

St. Francis of Assisi wrote in his Canticle of the Creatures, “Blessed are those who endure in peace, for by you, Most High, they will be crowned.” He wrote this at a time when there was unrest in Assisi between factions associated with the mayor and the bishop. Archbishop Coakley said, “Let us pray for reconciliation where there is division, for justice where there are violations of fundamental rights, and for consolation for all you feel overwhelmed by fear or loss.” He called for this hour of prayer for peace noting, “The recent killing of two people by immigration enforcement officers in Minneapolis and that of a detained man in Texas, are just a few of the tragic examples of the violence that represents failures in our society to respect the dignity of every human life.” He also stated, “The current climate of fear and polarization, which thrives when human dignity is disregarded, does not meet the standard set by Christ in the Gospel.”

Our community, our state, our nation cannot have peace if people continue to treat each other as less than human. One of our core values at Felician Village is respect for human dignity. Dorothy Day emphasized our important role as Christians when she said, "We plant seeds that will flower as results in our lives, so best to remove the weeds of anger, avarice, envy and doubt, that peace and abundance may manifest for all."

Mother Theresa said, "If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other." Pope Francis noted, “The desire for peace, security, and stability is one of the deepest longings of the human heart, for it is rooted in the Creator, who makes all peoples members of the human family.” And finally, in the Gospel according to St. John, we hear: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you.”

Blessed Angela: “Pray and do good to those who render you harm.”