Peace prayers this month in Assisi

On October 27 representatives of Christian communities and world religions will celebrate a Day of Prayer for Peace with Benedict XVI in the city of St. Francis. The event will commemorate the 25th anniversary of the historic 1986 meeting called for by Pope John Paul II.

By Maria Voce

In this time of great upheaval, when “the walls in which the various civilizations live with their individual cultures are crumbling, a city-world without walls can be seen on the horizon, full of hope,” notes philosopher Giuseppe Zanghi.

Chiara Lubich offered this same vision in London in 2004 to an audience representing numerous religions. She spoke of the future for a multicultural, multiethnic and multireligious society in our time, with the risk of a clash of civilizations. Chiara also recalled St. Augustine’s vision at the collapse of the Roman Empire, which was also under the pressure of a large migration of peoples — not the end of a civilization, but the birth of a new world.

In the 1970s, speaking at an international congress of young people, Chiara asked them to “not close their eyes at the sight of this torment of humanity but to conscientiously enter into the gestation of the new world.”

“You are here,” she added, “to be formed in a ‘global vision,’ to become ‘people with a global mind.’”

In 1986, the vision of this new world became reality at the first historic meeting of the world’s religious leaders in Assisi. Blessed John Paul II spoke of it afterward saying, “It seemed for a moment that the unity that the divine Word established among the men and women of this world became visible.”

This great vision of God’s plan for humankind had also been stated in Nostra Aetate: “Different people” but ”one community” extended over the whole face of the earth, and in Assisi this could also be seen. In this “radical unity, which is based on the mystery of God’s creation and which belongs to the identity of the human being,” wrote John Paul II, “all people are called to the unity of the people of God, which foreshadows and promotes universal peace.”

Now Pope Benedict XVI has taken up the legacy of his predecessor, who called us to “keep alive and find once more the spirit of Assisi as a source of hope for the future.”

In these 25 years, the road opened by John Paul has made great progress, thanks to the action of the Holy Spirit. It is he who guides history in this great design of unity, despite the many shadows that fall across our planet. We are witnessing it.

In 1972, when Chiara invited young people to become protagonists in the gestation of a new world, she gave them what she called a “very powerful weapon of love,” a “model capable of re-creating the unity of the world” — Jesus crucified who, on the cross, calls out to his Father in his abandonment. It is he, the crucified and resurrected Lord, who is the key that opens dialogue even in the most difficult situations.

For our movement, almost by surprise, the unexplored page of interreligious dialogue opened when Chiara received the Templeton Prize in 1977. When representatives of different religions present at Guildhall in London showed particular interest in her spiritual experience, she recognized a sign of the Holy Spirit. Since then, numerous developments have occurred.

Today, dialogue between religions cannot be limited to leaders, scholars and specialists alone. It must become a dialogue of the people, a dialogue of life. [For example] we meet Christians and Muslims everywhere who bear witness to the fact that we can progress from fear to discovery and contribute to peaceful coexistence in our cities.

We are keeping the great meeting in Assisi this month in our prayers, in the hope and expectation of new surprises from the Holy Spirit.

Excerpts from an article published in the Roman Observer on July 13. Maria Voce is president of the Focolare Movement.