Who We Are and Why We’re Here

The Prayer for Peace Day and the Declaration of Peace began as Benedictines and Benedictine Oblates prayed for peace in Benedictine communities around the world.  The Prayer for Peace popped out of that box very quickly and has been said by many Faith Traditions in its first two years.   “The world is hungry for peace,” explained Fr. John Hayden, OSB, St. Anselm’s Abbey, in Washington, DC.  Visit their serene abbeys and hospitable monasteries and you’ll experience peace.

Why is this so?  Because Benedictines were founded by The Peacemaker, St. Benedict of Nursia, Italy, in the early 500’s AD.  The word, “Pax,” has been inscribed over the doorways of many of his monasteries throughout the centuries.  Peace is their gift because prayer is their work.  Peace and prayer walk hand in hand.  It’s like putting our hand in a soft, warm, strong glove and letting God guide us through fear and anxiety and depression.  Thus we achieve inner peace, peace with our neighbor and peace with God.  And God protects us if we ask; God helps us achieve things if it is His Will, and if we ask and if we believe. 

The evidence for this remarkable statement is David, Gideon, the Maccabees; and more recently Fatima, Portugal, Nigeria and Medjugorje.  All of these people asked God to safeguard them from war and persecution and to help them do God’s Will.  Then they tried to learn His Ways: God working with mankind in a Joint Venture for protection and peace.  Portugal was sheltered from bombs during the Second World War.  Nigeria knew a relief from persecution and corruption.

Bosnia-Herzegovina suffered terribly during their war in the 1990s.  Mostar was devastated.  And Medjugorje was targeted because it is a pilgrimage site where countless people have been healed.  The people there prayed for God’s Safety.  A bomb hit their church, St. James, but the device did not detonate.  No one was killed in Medjugorje except a cat and a dog.

Now, we appeal to all Faith Traditions to join our Board of Directors.  All of us have One Creator.  We will all be enriched if we share our vision and eat and drink together in that ancient tradition: those who pray together, and eat and drink together will not fight.   Together let’s celebrate Peacemakers around the world.