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Forum on Iraq
Ladies and gentlemen we have gathered here today to be strong in our mind and in our spirit. We gathered here to unite and become one. It does not matter whether you are Catholic, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, or Hindu. It does not matter whether you are black or white. What matters is creating unity on a day that needs that most. I want every one of you to hold one another’s hand for a moment. Do just that for a few seconds and feel the oneness and unity amongst yourselves. This is the way it should be during every minute of our lives. We should never let go of oneness and unity.
When war becomes imminent, all we hear on the news is the political side of it. I want to ask, what happened to morals and beliefs? Today, we sit here in this building to focus on the morality of this issue. We may not have the power to stop the war with our own hands, but we do have the power to pray. We have the power to ask God or that higher being to free us from this tension and anxiety. We have the power to pray for the lives of innocents. We have the power to unite and become one community under God.
This is what God wants to see. With our spiritual strength, we can conquer all. We must cling to one another and pray with one another to show God’s love for unity, His love for humanity, His love for peace. We must not only be open-minded, but open hearted. We must open our hearts to one another and understand that human loss is distressing. Once we are together, we must not break that link. As human beings, we must go beyond our own thinking and belief, and by doing so we must look deep in our heart. Pray to God to help the helpless, to free the imprisoned, and to relieve the oppressed, and God will answer. Unity and spirit are the keys to God’s answers to our prayers.
One might say, “Well, we’re in war, we can’t make a difference.” I say yes we can. Since we are made from flesh and blood, we have a mind and a heart. So we have to make them connect. We have the power to change, but first we must make sure that we personally and spiritually have changed. God does not want to see nations fighting. God does not want to see hostility between different faiths. God does not want to hear violence and oppression being justified in His name. God wants us to connect with ourselves and with others, so we can connect with Him. Once we show God that we have found our inner self, once God sees that mankind is in unity, once God hears our plea coming from one community and one voice, He will answer. God will not let His people down.
May I leave you all with this prayer from the Quran…
What can we do to make God’s Light
Shine forth through the darkness around us?
We must first let it shine in our own true Selves
With that Light in the niche of our inmost hearts
We can walk with steps both firm and sure:
We can humbly visit the comfortless
And guide their steps. Not we, but the Light
Will Guide! But oh! The joy of being found
Worthy to bear the Torch, and to say
To our brethren: “I too was in darkness,
Comfortless, and behold, I have found
Comfort and Joy in the Grace Divine!”
Peace is not passive; peace is aggressive and must be sincerely sought on the knees of humankind. For no one person is above violence, and no one person is beyond peace. Peace shows no barriers, Democrat, Republic, liberal, conservative, Black, White, Asian, Latino, peace is common to all. However peace does not come without hard work. True communal peace can only be found after we individually have peace within us. This individual peace can only be found through prayer.
So I say to you now pray, pray without ceasing. For no one would surely rejoice at the senseless waste of human life. Your father, my brothers, his sisters, your uncles, her aunts, his cousins, our friends.....human beings, will be taken before their time. Thus this peace is patriotic. For it is out of love, love of country, love of our servicemen, that we pursue peace.
Now no matter if you were against or for, we are all united in the reality of war, and ultimately the reality of death. For as we are burdened with the death of our servicemen, the Iraqi people are burdened with the death of their children, wives, uncles, husbands and friends. Take heart, take heart and pray. For there is hope in the future, if we actively seek peace and nothing else. For the evil intentions of humankind will always be the thorn in humanities side. Thus evil can never be thwarted unless we seek peace.
In the words of St. Matthew,
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:3-10