Pray, Pray, Pray!
When I first thought about today’s eNews article, all that came to my mind was “It’s Holy Week! – Pray, Pray, Pray”! (One “Pray” for each of the three sacred days: Holy Thursday of the Last Supper, Good Friday of the Passion, and Easter/Vigil of the Resurrection.) Then an email arrived yesterday that made that triple aspiration very concrete: our Jesuit regional office has asked for prayers at all the Jesuit ministries this week for two extraordinary circumstances. And I will add a third. In all of these prayers, we are invited to be present to and accompany the sufferings of Christ as He suffers in the people of the world today. That is the invitation of all the Holy Week liturgies: to be with Christ in his sufferings – so that we might be with him also in his Risen Life. That is to say, in all these situations we pray not with desperation, but with a deep spiritual HOPE founded in our Resurrection faith that God intends the ultimate salvation of our human family.
First: “Please pray for the Church and all people in the Holy Land, raising awareness of pathways to peace there.” This request is prompted by reports from the two Midwest Jesuits living and working in the Holy Land with news of alarming developments there. As the war in Gaza continues, Israel has launched a war in the West Bank, hidden from the eyes of the world. The Israeli army is carrying out the largest displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank from their homes since 1967. According to OCHA, already over 40,000 Palestinians have been displaced, and are currently living without shelter, essential services, and healthcare. To read more, see “Out of the Depths,” a message from Christian leaders in Palestine/Israel.
Second: Let us pray for our country, for all those impacted by the dramatic changes initiated by the new administration: government workers, immigrants and refugees, the educational sector, to name a few. Next Tuesday is Earth Day. Environmental protections are being dismantled daily. We might pray especially for the “ecological conversion” that Pope Francis has called for, that leaders of government and of business might be moved to greater care for creation, our common home.
Third: A request from Roberto Jaramillo, SJ, at the Jesuit General Curia in Rome, about the case of Stan Swamy, SJ in India: “I want to call on you to aid us in supporting Jesuit Mission UK in the effort to clear the name of Fr Stan Swamy, SJ. Fr Stan was an Indian Jesuit who worked for the rights of Adivasi and Dalit people, some of the most marginalized groups in India. On 8 October 2020, aged 83, he was arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for supposed crimes against the government of India. Although entirely innocent, he was falsely accused of involvement in violence surrounding protests in 2018. He was kept in appalling conditions in prison and died, as a result, in July 2021, aged 84.
On what would’ve been his 88th birthday, Jesuit Mission UK is encouraging all parts of the Jesuit family to unite and call for the clearing of Fr Stan Swamy’s name. The campaign, https://jesuitmissions.org.uk/campaign/send-a-card-for-fr-stan/, seeks to actively call on the Government of India to make an official declaration of his innocence. As part of this campaign, they will be delivering cards to the Indian High Commission in London on 25 April, the day before what would have been Fr Stan’s birthday. From the General Curia of the Society of Jesus, we would like to ask you to use the templates attached at the link to send cards to your nearest Consulate of India, and respectfully call for the clearing of Fr Stan Swamy’s name. Embassy of India, Consular Wing / 2536 Massachusetts Avenue, NW / Washington, DC 20008.