JERUSALEM (SE): Pierbattista Cardinal Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, called for a day of prayer, penance and fasting to ask for the gift of peace in the Holy Land on October 7, Fides reported on September 26. It will be exactly a year since the conflict in Gaza was triggered by the attack by Hamas on Israel, placing the entire region in danger of a greater conflagration.
In a letter to the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pizzaballa wrote: “The month of October is approaching, and with it the realisation that for the past year the Holy Land, and not only, has been plunged into a vortex of violence and hatred never seen or experienced before. The intensity and impact of the tragedies we have witnessed in the past 12 months have deeply lacerated our conscience and our sense of humanity.” The cardinal called “once again on those in authority and those who bear the grave responsibility of making decisions in this context, to a commitment to justice and respect for every person’s right to freedom, dignity and peace.”
He wrote. “Therefore, I invite you to a day of prayer, fasting and penance on October 7 next, a date that has become symbolic of the drama we are experiencing. The month of October is also the Marian month and on October 7 we celebrate the memory of Mary Queen of the Rosary,”
He concluded, “May each of us, with the rosary or in whatever form he or she sees fit, personally but better again in community, find a moment to pause and pray, and bring to the ‘merciful Father and God of all consolation’ [2 Corinthians 1:3], our desire for peace and reconciliation. Attached you will find a prayer proposal, that may be used freely.”
Lord our God,
Father of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and Father of all mankind,
Who in the cross of Your Son
and through the gift of His own life,
at great cost You wished to destroy
the wall of enmity and hostility
that separates peoples and makes us enemies:
Send into our hearts
the gift of the Holy Spirit,
that He may purify us from every feeling
of violence, hatred and revenge,
enlighten us to understand
the irrepressible dignity
of every human person,
and inflame us to the point of consumption
for a peaceful and reconciled world
in truth and justice,
in love and freedom.
Almighty and eternal God,
in Your hands are the hopes of men
and the rights of every people:
Assist with Your wisdom those who govern us,
so that, with Your help,
they will become sensitive to the sufferings of the poor
and of those who suffer the consequences
of violence and war;
may they promote the common good and lasting peace
in our region
and throughout the earth.
Virgin Mary, Mother of Hope,
obtain the gift of peace
for the Holy Land that gave birth to you
and for the whole world. Amen.
