MUMBAI, India – Cardinal Charles Bo of Yangon says Christians mark Holy Week reflecting on the “devastating toll of battle even within the birthplace of Jesus, Ukraine, and our personal soil.”
The President of the Catholic Bishops Convention of Myanmar and President of Federations of Asia Bishops Conferences stated in a message, “allow us to elevate our voices in fervent prayer for peace.”
“As we embark on this sacred journey by the season of Lent, a time for introspection and reconciliation, allow us to unite in response to the resounding name for peace that emanates from the depths of Pope Francis’s coronary heart and echoes all through our wounded world,” the cardinal stated within the message, which was titled “Embracing the Daybreak of Peace: A Name to Finish the Lengthy Nights of Battle and Worry.”
“Collectively, allow us to kneel in solidarity, imploring the Almighty to dispel the darkness of battle and usher in a brand new daybreak of hope and concord,” he added.
“Allow us to implore the Almighty to bestow upon us the divine reward of peace infused with justice, guiding us in direction of a brighter future,” Bo continued.
“Allow us to cherish the ample human sources bestowed upon our land and nurture them to flourish, somewhat than permitting them to wither amidst the turmoil of warfare. Investing within the subsequent technology is investing in a sturdy peace,” he stated.
In his Jan. 8 tackle to bishops, Pope Francis famous stated that because the yr 2024 opens the world is “more and more lacerated” by battle, and as “the excellence between army and civil goals is now not revered.”
“There isn’t a battle that doesn’t find yourself ultimately indiscriminately putting the civilian inhabitants,” he stated, including, “The occasions in Ukraine and Gaza are clear proof of this.”
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In his Lenten Message, Bo stated the world ought to heed Francis’s “clarion name,” which the cardinal stated embracing dialogue and reconciliation because the foundations of our collective journey in direction of peace.
“Allow us to domesticate the flame of hope inside our hearts, steadfast in our resolve to eradicate the divisive forces of hatred and strife,” Bo stated.
“Pope Francis has usually invited younger folks to not let ‘hope be stolen.’ Confronted with the conflicts and issues that the world experiences in the present day, we should revive our hope by trusting within the Risen Christ, who conquered demise and gave us true life,” the cardinal writes.
“This hope generates mild to life, overcomes discouragement, generates solidarity and counteracts all of the seeds of violence {that a} tradition of indifference and confrontation, sow in our societies and put together the bottom for wars,” he stated.
“Collectively, let the world pledge to rework devices of warfare into instruments of peace, and all fears into unwavering belief. Let our phrases echo the common language of fraternity, and will our actions be guided by the pursuit of peace,” Bo continued.
“On this sacred quest for peace, allow us to invoke divine grace to melt the hearts of these entrenched in violence and empower them to embrace the trail of reconciliation,” he stated.