Reflection for Peace Vigil
By Jackson Procise, Just Peace Intern
Thursday, March 28, 2024
This Lenten season, we have lamented for the erosion of peace and injustices in our world: all forms of bigotry and hate, violence, oppression, meaningless wars, homelessness, hunger, environmental crises, polarization and disconnection, loneliness, and dehumanization.
This evening, I would like to share with you a story of injustice that is personal to me. However, it is also a story of resilience. Last summer, I worked for a nonprofit organization in London serving refugees and migrants. Because of war in their home country, a prominent number of refugees I worked with came from Ukraine.
In a journal entry, I lamented for the hardships faced by the people I worked for and tried to imagine what it is like for them. I wrote, “I could not imagine fleeing my home country because of war. Voluntarily spending 11-weeks in the UK, away from my home and family, is a challenge enough for me. Also, I face no language barrier and have come with people I know from school. The people I am working with don’t have those same privileges.”
Later that summer, a Ukrainian woman I worked with, Victoria, shared parts of her experience as a refugee with me. She spoke of missing the beauty, comfort, and joys of living in her home, Kyiv, which is the capital city of Ukraine. She recalled the trauma of seeing Russian tanks and hearing gunshots just blocks away from her home. As tears ran down her face, Victoria also shared about the intense feelings of anxiety and sleepless nights she experiences as a result of missing and fearing for her son who stayed behind to fight. Her stories are heartbreaking.
Despite Victoria’s hardship, she maintains an amazingly resilient attitude. She is an academic and has worked extremely hard to integrate into the university system in the UK while also overcoming a language barrier. She dreams of having a huge celebration back in Kyiv when the fighting ends and being reunited with her son.
Tonight, I hope you will join me in praying for Victoria and her dream for peace and justice for Ukraine. We pray for all who are forced to flee their homes because of violence, war, and oppression.
We also pray tonight for justice and for an end to violence in Gaza, and that the people of Gaza and Israel will have peace.
Further, we pray and have hope for peace and justice all around our world. We pray for refugees, for those experiencing homelessness and hunger, for people facing mental illness, for those struggling with addiction, for communities without clean air, for people experiencing loneliness, and for all people, who need to know they are worthy and loved.
We pray for kindness, compassion, and empathy, for generosity and gratitude. We pray for war and violence to end, and for forces of hate and oppression to be defeated. We pray for human relationships to be fostered and renewed. We pray for old wounds to be healed. In the darkness, we pray for light, and we pray for faith, hope, and love to prevail.
As people of faith, we are called to serve of God, to step into the arena, to love others and the world as Jesus commanded us to, by fighting the good fight for peace and justice in our world. There is much work to be done.
In many instances, I would end with that call to action. However, it is important that when we can, we take a moment to simply breathe and to sit quietly with ourselves, and our thoughts, and the Spirit of God. So, I would like to end by offering a moment of silent prayer and reflection. If you would like you can close your eyes. Let us take this moment, this peaceful moment, this holy moment, in the spirit of love and unity, to quietly pray, reflect, and to just be, in God’s presence.
--- moment of silent prayer and reflection ---
Amen.
