The Paradox of Peace

Today, as every day, I will pray for peace, but today I will also participate in the global prayer vigil for peace called for by Pope Francis six days ago. The invitation is to everyone, "including our non-Catholic Christian brothers, followers of other religions and all men of good will, to participate, in whatever way they can, in this initiative."

"We will gather in prayer and in a spirit of penance, invoking God's great gift of peace upon the beloved nation of Syria and upon each situation of conflict and violence around the world. Humanity needs to see these gestures of peace and to hear words of hope and peace."

The vigil in St. Peter's Square from 7 pm to 11 pm today (September 7) will include a recital of the rosary, eucharistic adoration, Scripture readings, a papal blessing and remarks by Pope Francis. Hundreds of thousands of others of all faiths and in hundreds of locations around the world are expected to join the vigil in their own ways. My own participation will be to meditate at the Arkansas House of Prayer (AHOP) with a few friends at noon CDT (7 pm in Rome). All are welcome. In contrast to the event in St. Peter's Square, our practice at the AHOP is to observe silence, quiet the mind, and seek the face of the Divine within.

Which brings me to the paradox of peace. Peace begins within the human heart, within my heart. Gandhi said, "Be the change you want to see in the world." This means that world peace begins with me. So why not meditate and pray in my own closet? I certainly could and many will do just that from wherever they are today. But when I sit in silence in the meditation room with two or twenty others, my own spirit becomes more aware of the Divine center within those around me, and together we unify our spirits with all those gathered around the world. We sense more deeply that we are not separate egos. We are one with everyone and we cry out with all those who suffer the ravages of violence wherever they are.

The AHOP event today is a prelude to another on September 21, the International Day of Peace, at 7:00 pm (Midnight GMT), when all who can are invited to join us at the AHOP for BeThePeace Little Rock. Hundreds of millions are expected to meditate simultaneously in one of the largest globally-synchronized meditation and prayer events in history. Peace begins with me; yet I cannot truly be at peace until the human family lives in peace.

And so I have been accused of being an idealist. Guilty, but I am not naïve. Conflict and violence will not end this month. Nonetheless, I find great hope in the combined efforts of over eighty organizations in more than four hundred cities around the world in asking twenty percent of the world's population to think and pray about peace on that day, as I do so in stillness. That is the paradox.