The Interfaith Peace Project is offering eleven days of reflections for your consideration during the eleven days leading up to The International Day of Peace, September 21st. The theme for this year’s International Day of Peace celebrates the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: “The Right to Peace – The Universal Declaration of Human Rights at 70.” (Please see Thomas P. Bonacci’s letter of September 11, 2018.)
As you prepare to observe The International Day of Peace, please consider these reflections. May they inspire and challenge you to be the peace you seek.
The Interfaith Peace Project
+++
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Artcles 12 & 13
Article 12
with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to
attacks upon his honour and reputation.
Everyone has the right to the protection of the law
against such interference or attacks.
Article 13
and residence within the borders of each state.
(2) Everyone has the right to leave any country,
including his own, and to return to his country.
+++
United States Constitution
The Bill of Rights
Amendments
Amendment XIV
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without the due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Reflections
May you, as a person of hospitality, be the presence of the divine
for the guest, the traveler, or visitor who comes your way
May you, as a person of hospitality, invite those you meet
to the sacred space of your sanctuary, self, and community
May you, as a person of hospitality, guide and bless the coming
and going of all those who journey
May you, as a person of hospitality, radiate the mind and heart
of what it means to be generous and gracious
As a person of hospitality, may you recognize the dignity of others
who may not recognize their own dignity
As a person of hospitality, may you be blessed by those you meet.
Remember – every person is called, by the nature of being human,
to be a sanctuary, a safe haven, for all those they meet.
Thomas P. Bonacci, C.P.
And do good unto your parents, and near of kin, and unto orphans, and the needy, and the neighbour from among your own people, and the neighbor who is a stranger, and the friend by your side, and the wayfarer, and those whom you rightfully possess. Verily, God does not love any of those who, full of selfconceit, act in a boastful manner…” -An-Nisa 4:36
Ignoring the plight of fellow human beings renders worship of God futile. Worship is effective not by the complexity of its rituals and the elaborateness of ingredients and offerings, but by devotion and by service of fellow beings done as part of worship. Bhagavata Purana III 29.24
“Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it.
Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it.
Hatred darkens life; love illumines it.”
Martin Luther King Jr.
Off