Prayers for Peace

Poetry and Prayers for Peace
FAITH



The Rainbow
The First Covenant was sealed with a Rainbow.
Does hope for Interfaith Harmony lie there?
One image that conveys hope is the shared experience
is of three abused and traumatized individuals walking
through darkness, holding flickering candles lit by their
ancestors long ago to illuminate their way.
Each of the three wanderers longs for the security of
his lost homeland and for the chance to define himself
again in positive terms after being defined negatively
by others. Each of them fears that, out of the darkness,
some enemy will attack, making him a victim once
again. None of them is able to trust others who might
help him overcome the trauma and the dread.
Then, suddenly, the three of them converge, and
their candles illuminate each other’s faces. Each
experiences the shock of mutual recognition. In the
human faces is a reflection of something mysteriously
divine, so that each can echo the wondrous exclamation
of the wounded Jacob, renamed Israel upon reuniting
with his estranged brother Esau: “For I have truly seen
your face as though seeing the face of God.” (Genesis
33:10)

An awareness of the divine aspect of each other’s
identity would help us overcome our conditioned fears,
loyalties and animosities. ... The underlying, liberating
truth is that the one Creator has made us all in the divine
image, every human person being infinitely precious
and beloved in God’s sight.
Here on earth, our common father Abraham and
our mother city Jerusalem make all of us sisters and brothers in the family of believers. If we could recognize
one another in that spirit, even while dialoguing about
distinct identities and vocations, we could work together
to sanctify God’s holy land and the entire creation,
sharing the divine blessing of shalom.
Copyright: Yehezkel Landau/Harvard University
ADAPTED FROM LIGHT OF AN ANGEL MM SNYDER

POETRY
THE SUN AND THE BRIDGE
PARADISE DREAM