Dear friends, Blessings of Christ’s peace! Prayer for Peace in Gaza by Fr. John Dear Pax Christi USA Ambassador of Peace God of Shalom, We repent of our complicity in the U.S.-backed Israeli genocide in Gaza. We renounce all violence, forgive everyone, and pledge to live in your Spirit of universal love, universal compassion, universal peace, and total nonviolence. We beg You for an immediate end to the forced starvation in Gaza, an immediate end to the US-backed Israeli genocide in Gaza, an immediate end to US weapons sales to Israel, an immediate end to Israeli apartheid in Palestine, and for a new spirit of nonviolence, compassion, justice and peace among all Palestinians, Israelis, and US Americans. We cannot do this, but You can. We beg You for the gift of your Shalom. We surrender ourselves to you and pledge to do our part to beat swords into plowshares, end war and injustice, and welcome your reign of universal love, justice, and peace on earth here and now for all people and all creation. We humbly ask this mighty blessing in the name of Shalom. Amen. As the U.S.-backed Israeli genocide and forced starvation in Gaza continues, hundreds of us, including our own Dan Vrooman, have embarked on a 40 day fast for an immediate end to the killing and destruction. To read about the fast or join in part of it, visit www.veteransforpeace.org www.fosna.org, www.paxchristiusa.org.
My decision to join the fast came after studying Rev. Munther Isaac’s heart-breaking new book about Gaza, Christ In the Rubble. I was going to speak with him on “The Nonviolent Jesus Podcast,” but he was not able to join me. He asks many questions about God in the midst of this horror. In the spirit of seeking God, knowing God, and serving God as we resist inequality, hatred, injustice, genocide and war, I’ve invited one of our greatest theologians, Sr. Elizabeth Johnson, back to the Beatitudes Center to speak about “The God of Universal Love and Compassion.” She will join me in a conversation about God, based on her book, Creation and the Cross, on Saturday, June 7th. Because God is universally loving and totally nonviolent, I believe God has to give us the freedom to reject God and God’s way of love and nonviolence--which is what humanity has chosen to do. The spiritual life and the work of peace begins, then, with repentance, renouncing our selfish, egocentric, nationalistic will, and all its violence, and surrendering completely to the will of the God of universal love and compassion on the journey of total nonviolence. Our prayer then is, “Not my will, but your will be done.” 
A former president of the Catholic Theological Society of America and also of the American Theological Society, an ecumenical association, Beth Johnson is the author of many great books such as She Who Is: The Mystery of God in Feminist Theological Discourse (which received the prestigious Grawemeyer Award in Religion); Come Have Breakfast; Quest for the Living God: Mapping Frontiers in the Theology of God; and Ask the Beasts: Darwin and the God of Love. Join us in this time of prayer, reflection, and conversation, and bring your questions! To register, visit www.beatitudescenter.org. The program will begin 11am Pacific/ 12pm Mountain/ 1pm Central/ 2pm Eastern time. You will receive the zoom link a few days beforehand, and a recording link afterwards If you have questions, email Kassandra at beatitudescentermb@gmail.com. Scholarships are available.
May the God of universal love and compassion bless us all! Fr. John
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