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Interfaith Love In Action

Having been raised as a Roman Catholic I was taught to pray in certain ways, i.e., rote prayers, Novenas, prayers to Saints, etc.  However, the results of the 2016 election truly shook my faith in how to pray.

Before the election I prayed so hard that Trump would not get elected because I saw the evil that spewed out of his mouth and actions.  I prayed the Psalms, prayed to St. Jude the patron saint of the impossible, etc.  When he was elected, I cried for two weeks.  I screamed at God and asked if He had abandoned us and why did this happen?

After I stopped crying, a few weeks later I learned about an Interfaith Thanksgiving Eve service to be held at a local Roman Catholic Church.  I went out of curiosity more than anything else.  I was so moved by what I saw and heard.  Different faith traditions were praying in their own native languages and it was beautiful. During the service the Executive Director of a Jewish East Bay organization interviewed on the altar two refugees from Afghanistan who told their stories.  This immediately caught my attention.  This organization places Afghan refugee families in the Bay Area by obtaining for them a special immigrant visa.  The husbands were translators for the US Army and the Taliban is after them for doing that.

I connected with the Executive Director who put me in contact with the volunteer coordinator.  I interviewed with the volunteer coordinator and for the past three years I have been a volunteer ESL tutor to two immigrant families from Afghanistan – my first tutoring assignment was on Inauguration Day 2017.

Tutoring these refugees from Afghanistan is one of the most rewarding things I have ever done in my entire life.  I have learned so much about the Muslim faith tradition and I see peace and so much love within these families.  My opportunity to tutor them is truly interfaith love in action because a Jewish organization is using me as a bridge to help a Muslim family – the three Abrahamic faiths are together and that is the way it should be.  Love in action does not look at another’s ethnicity nor religion nor gender or anything else.  Love in action toward another is the only thing that will eventually overcome evil – not wars, not weapons, not hatred, not revenge, only love toward another.

Ramona Krausnick
Dublin, California