Dear Members of the Georgetown University Community:
Today on this Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi, whose prayer begins with a fervent plea “to make us an instrument of your peace,” we mourn the lives lost and suffering caused by the ongoing violence in the Middle East, and elsewhere in the world. We recognize the continued suffering of students, staff, and faculty in our community directly affected by the ongoing violence. We pause to remember those who have perished and pray together for a just and lasting peace.
We join our voices and hearts with Pope Francis’ ongoing appeal for peace. He originally offered the following prayer during the “Invocation for Peace” gathering in the Vatican Gardens in 2014 with the then-leaders of Israel and Palestine, which he renewed at its 10th anniversary in June:
Keep alive within us the flame of hope,
so that with patience and perseverance
we may opt for dialogue and reconciliation.
In this way may peace triumph at last,
and may the words “division”, “hatred” and “war”
be banished from the heart of every man and woman.
Lord, defuse the violence of our tongues and our hands.
Renew our hearts and minds,
so that the word which always brings us together will be “brother”,
and our way of life will always be that of: Shalom, Peace, Salaam!
Fr. Mark Bosco, S.J., Ph.D., Vice President for Mission and Ministry
Fr. Greg Schenden, S.J., Director of Campus Ministry