God is Peace

Last night, I had the pleasure of attending a prayer session in conjunction with the international prayer day, -organised by our Christian brethen to pray for persecuted and oppressed christians of the world.Their praise and worship was indeed powerful and I could see why many of our youths were drawn to this type of enviroment.

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The focus was powerfully on Jesus , very intense, love was in the air. I was really drawn , but I really do not agree with their pastor's views that it is a mistake to pray for peace. Timothy was quoted that if one wants to be closed to God, there must be persecution. I really do not agree with that interpretion. Our God is a God of love and Peace and if we want to live harmoniously in a multicultural, multiracial and multienthic= country and world, we need to constantly pray for peace; that the understanding, the compassion and love for neighbour will fill our hearts and souls so that the gift of peace will reign and the Kingdom of God is opened to us.

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We do not need persecution to be near God, and certaintly we do not want persecution. We want peace, we want to be able to reach out to others and they to us, and live in an enviroment of mutual respect , acceptance and love that we may move forward in harmony. The world needs more messengers of peace and prayers for peace is every individual's responsibility.

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I left in the middle of the intercessory prayer, (un-noticed I hoped) because my heart was not at peace but certainly they do have a little something we Catholics, could learn from , the passion and the intensity of praise and worship of our Lord Jesus Christ. The commitment....A pity though, that their pastor believes in the need for persecution; that it is a mistake to pray for peace.