Midland Interfaith Council for Peace and
Justice
Inspiration
We invite you to reflectively read through the following items on this page. They are linked so you can go to them specifically after you have read through them:
Non-violence in everyday life by Anthony Padavano
If you want peace by Laotse
Prayer for Decade of Non-violence by Pax Christi
Finally we ask you to take the Peace Pledge
Nonviolence
in
everyday life
Anthony Padovano,
Pay attention to people,
so they don't have to become violent
to get your attention.
Learn how to share your own human experience
and teach others to do so.
Reject excessive activity,
accomplishment or success.
Thomas Merton said, "If you're too busy,
it's because you think your life is worthless.
Remember that your silence
invites other people to speak.
Resist consumerism.
The desperate need for possessions is addictive.
Wealth is like an addictive drug –
the more you have, the more you want.
Learn to let go.
Learn to lose.
When you're failing, remember that you'll son
succeed…
and vice versa.
Clutching at success is very violent.
My failure might help someone else to win
who needs it more than I do.
Develop a sense of history.
You will see that things work out in the long run.
Develop the spirituality and practice of peacemaking
and nonviolence through regular prayer, study and
action.
Select one
virtue that you need to develop, and practice that virtue until it becomes a
natural response.
Quote
from
Laotse
If there is
to be peace in the world,
there must be peace in the nations.
If there is
to be peace in the nations,
there must be peace in the cities.
If there is
to be peace in the cities,
there must be peace between neighbors.
If there is
to be peace between neighbors,
there must be peace in the home.
If there is
to be peace in the home,
there must be peace in the heart.
(From
Lao-Tse, #602 in Singing the Living Tradition)
Prayer
for
the Decade of Nonviolence
I bow to the
sacred in all creation.
May my spirit
fill the world
with beauty and wonder.
May my mind
seek truth
with humility and openness.
May my heart
forgive without limit.
May my love
for friend, enemy and outcast
be without measure.
May my needs
be few and my living simple.
May my
actions bear witness
to the suffering of others.
May my hands
never harm a living being.
May my steps
stay on the journey of justice.
May my tongue
speak
for those who are poor without fear of the
powerful.
May my
prayers rise
with patient discontent until no child is
hungry.
May my life's
work be a passion
for peace and nonviolence.
May my soul
rejoice in the present moment.
May my
imagination overcome
death and despair with new possibility.
And may I
risk reputation, comfort and security
to bring this hope to the children.
FromPax Christi