The Arts Precinct

(Burelli Street) opp Council Building

 

Friday 19^th Dec 2014

10.15am

 

All Welcome

Gary and I will lead the Interfaith Peace Prayer tomorrow. Please get your families, friends and parishioners to come along.

Thank you for the great sign of interfaith unity at yesterday's Mass at the Saint Francis Xavier Cathedral. This was a great opportunity to show the wider community that we walk in solidarity under one God for the promotion of peace and unity in our local area.

Find attached the article in our parish bulletin which will appear this weekend.

The Peace Prayer tomorrow will be a simple affair; Gary and I will need some volunteers with loud voices to say some of the prayers of petition.

 

 

Program – 19^th December '14 – Arts Precinct, Wollongong

1.       Welcome and Opening Prayer – Mr Gary Ismail and Fr Ron Peters

2.       Recitation from the Qur'an

3.       Translation

4.       Time for silent reflection

5.       Reading from Matthew's Gospel 5: 1-11 – The Beatitudes

6.       Time for silent reflection

7.       Prayers of Petition

8.      Peace Prayer

All: Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy.

O, Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love; For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; it is in dying that we are born again to eternal life.

 

 

9.       Closing Comments – Mr Gary Ismail and Fr Ron Peters

 

May God be praised in our endeavours.

Fr Ron Peters

Dear Brothers and Sisters under one God

As we approach Christmas - the Season of Peace and Joy for all people of goodwill - it is important to note that the birth of IP4P was indeed very timely.

Our small initiative in the Illawarra is so significant in promoting that peace and harmony are desired by all people who simply want to live life to the full. All people, with their families, simply wish to live their lives to the best of their abilities and peaceably.

The awful series of events in Sydney and the enormous tragedy in Pakistan where 142 innocent children and their teachers were massacred, remind us of our common call to live in mutual respect and friendship - no matter the faith or the non-faith of the individual or community.

On Wednesday we celebrated the Mass of Peace and Harmony. There was a good representation of our Muslim brothers and sisters as well as representatives from our various church agencies and our two schools. During the Mass we not only prayed for peace, but also for the victims and survivors of the Martin Place siege.

We continue to pray for the two victims and their families and friends. We pray for those people traumatised by the siege and their families and friends. We pray in gratitude for the Police Command of NSW, the police and the Tactical Response men and women, as well as our Premier for his sterling leadership of our beautiful state. We hold the people of NSW and Australia in prayer with the specific intention that we respect and build relationships for the greater glory of God.

Of course we need to pray for the many innocent victims of the massacre in Pakistan. So many innocent lives .... so many children .... May they rest in eternal peace.

Let us commit ourselves anew to teach one another how to love. Love is the great commandment.

With every blessing and good wish,

Fr Ron Peters and Mr Gary Ismail

Chairs of IP4P

"It is essential that all citizens - Muslim, Jewish and Christian - both in the provision and practice of the law, enjoy the same rights and respect the same duties." Pope Francis