By Sister Doreen, SSJD
This is the time of the year when we keep a week of prayer for Interfaith Harmony and when we remember with thanksgiving and celebration our Mother Foundress, Hannah. At the heart of both celebrations, joining them together in a unity, is that Peace that passes understanding.
This is the peace, the peace that guards our hearts, found in the passage from Philippians 4 that comes within the following verses 6-9: “Don’t fret or worry, instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when God displaces worry at the centre of your life. Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious – the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into God’s most excellent harmonies” (The Message translation).
At the heart of inter-faith harmony is the need for awareness in promoting understanding and peace among people of all faiths and beliefs. It is a time of prayer and also a time of events that encourage dialogue, community service, and cultural exchange to build bridges between different religions and cultures, rooted in the principles of loving God and loving one’s neighbour. “It is hoped that this initiative will provide a focal point from which all people of goodwill can recognize that the common values they hold far outweigh the differences they have, and thus provide a strong dosage of peace and harmony to their communities” World Interfaith Harmony website, “The World Interfaith Harmony Week”).
At the heart of our Mother Foundress’s first beginnings of our Community there is a letter written to her that says: “May the name which it is to bear (The Sisterhood of Saint John the Divine) be an indication of the Love which is to pervade and animate it; that all the members are indeed in a very special sense ‘beloved of the Beloved’; are ever mindful of the words ‘Little children, love one another’; and that the things and thoughts and aims heavenly, are things and thoughts to which they are given.”
In both of these celebrations we hear the words of loving God and loving each other, of the inherent value and preciousness of each person, of the knowledge that learning to live together in love with differences lies at the heart of that peace which passes understanding. That inner harmony, of being open to fostering internal peace, doing that hard work, knowing that it is what makes for an outer harmony – those acts of kindness, of building ties that bind us together while appreciating and fostering life-giving acceptance of our differences, of building on what unites us.
All of these values lie at the heart of real community. They are values that are promoted and prayed for during the week of prayer for Interfaith Harmony, and they are values that are promoted and prayed for as we give thanks for and celebrate Mother Hannah and the Foundation of our Community of the Sisterhood of Saint John the Divine.
We do well to understand that it is the peace of God which surpasses all understanding which guards our hearts. Guarded and given to work together as co-creators with God for that peace which passes all understanding, I share the following hymn: “In Sing a New Creation,” Anglican Church of Canada #136, by Richard Leach:
“When our song says peace and the world says war, we will sing despite the world.
We will trust the song, for we sing of God who breaks the spear and sword and stills the storm of war.
When our song says free and the world says bound, we will sing despite the world.
We will trust the song, for we sing of God who opens prison doors and sets the captive free.
When our song says home and the world says lost, we will sing despite the world.
We will trust the song, for we sing of God who brings us home at last and gives a song to all.”
And:
“As we sing at the end of evensong here:
My peace I give unto you: it’s a peace that the world cannot give –
It’s a peace that the world cannot understand:
Peace to know, peace to live. My peace I give unto you.”
For Interfaith Harmony and for the Sisterhood of Saint John the Divine may our prayer be – God give us this peace, gift us this peace, open us up to this peace – this peace that comes as a gift from you. With this precious gift from God, may we together ask God to allow, encourage, and use us to be peace for each other and for the world. May God, who makes everything work together, indeed work us into God’s most excellent harmonies.
Yes! Yes! “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you,” Is. 60:1.