Every Wednesday, we invite you to pause and pray with us. Today’s Pause & Pray is written and curated by Rok Choi.

https://besharamagazine.org/arts-literature/a-thing-of-beauty/
http://un.org/en/visitor-centre-new-york/peace-window-marc-chagall

Pray

Risen Christ,
You came among your fearful friends
and spoke words that held the weight of heaven:
Peace be with you.

Come among us now,
into a world of sirens and rubble,
into cities divided by hatred,
into hearts bracing for the next blow.

Speak again your steadying word.
Peace, not as denial,
not as silence in the face of injustice,
but as courage stronger than violence,
as mercy deeper than revenge,
as life rising from every grave.

Breathe your Spirit upon us,
that we may become bearers of your peace
in a wounded world.

Amen.

Meditate: Peace Be With You (John 20:19)

One day, I had a dream.

An old man gathered us close
and said he would tell us a story
from long ago.

“In those days,” he said,
“human lives were shattered by other humans.
Homes were reduced to ash.
Fields once planted for bread
were planted with fear.”

The people listening gasped,
as if hearing of dragons or distant plagues.

I followed a child into a museum.
There, behind glass,
were relics of something called war,
artifacts from a vanished age.
Rusting weapons.
Photographs of smoke-filled skies.
Names carved in stone.

“Was it truly like this?”
the child asked.

“Yes,” the guide whispered,
“but not anymore.”

Ah!
It was a dream I did not wish to leave.

A world made whole.
A peace no army could enforce
and no tyrant could undo.

Is this your kin-dom, O God?
Is this what it means
for Christ to stand among us
and say, “Peace be with you”?

Will such a day come for us?

And if it begins anywhere,
does it begin
with us?

Listen

Da Pacem Domine

Arvo Pärt