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The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem called for a day of prayer, penance, and fasting on October 7. The day will coincide with the first anniversary of Hamas’ attack on Israel. It is also the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.
Pope Francis seconded the initiative, broadening it to be a day to pray for peace around the world.
He invited all Catholics to live “a day of prayer and fasting for peace in the world” next Monday, October 7, 2024, one year after the Israeli-Palestinian conflict flared up. Celebrating the opening Mass of the Synod on October 2, the Pope also announced that he would visit the Basilica of St. Mary Major on Sunday, October 6, to pray for an end to the conflicts.
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, made the call at the end of September; the ensuing days and escalation of conflict in the Holy Land have only added to the urgency of the cardinal's invitation.
“The month of October is approaching, and with it the realization that for the past year the Holy Land, and not only, has been plunged into a vortex of violence and hatred never seen or experienced before,” wrote Cardinal Pizzaballa. “The intensity and impact of the tragedies we have witnessed in the past 12 months have deeply lacerated our conscience and our sense of humanity.”
The patriarch offered a prayer that can be used on the occasion (found at the end of this article).
For his part, Pope Francis concluded his homily on October 2 saying that humanity is “in need” of the Gospel. He lamented “these dramatic hours in our history, when the winds of war and the fires of violence continue to overwhelm entire peoples and nations."
On Oct. 6, at the Basilica of Mary Major, he prayed the rosary, making an “urgent supplication” to the Virgin Mary for “the gift of peace.”
Queen of Peace
“The month of October is also the Marian month and on October 7 we celebrate the memory of Mary Queen of the Rosary,” Cardinal Pizzaballa noted in his appeal. “May each of us, with the rosary or in whatever form he or she sees fit, personally but better again in community, find a moment to pause and pray, and bring to the ‘merciful Father and God of all consolation’ (2 Cor. 1:3) our desire for peace and reconciliation.”
Pizzaballa has been notably outspoken since the beginning of the current conflict, which began when the military wing of Hamas, the Palestinian organization that governs the Gaza Strip, fired rockets into Israel, breached the border and attacked military bases, a music festival, and several Israeli settlements. The attack killed 1,139 Israelis and foreign nationals, including 815 civilians. Hamas took 251 persons hostage – mostly Israelis – and threatened to kill them one by one if Israel attacked Gaza.
Hamas said its attack was in response to Israel's continued occupation, blockade of Gaza, expansion of settlements, disregard for international law, as well as alleged threats to the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the general plight of Palestinians.
Hostages remain
The Latin Patriarch at one point offered himself in exchange for child hostages. There are about 100 hostages remaining. Some have been released or rescued, while others have been killed.
Pizzaballa also visited the small Christian community in Gaza City for several days in May.
Pizzaballa, 59, an Italian Franciscan, has served in the Holy Land his entire adult life, including 12 years as Custos of the Holy Land. In his letter of September 26, he wrote:
“Violence, which has caused and is causing thousands of innocent victims, has also found its way into political and social language and actions. It has struck a profound blow to the common feeling of belonging to the Holy Land, to the consciousness of being part of a plan of Providence that wanted us here to build together His Kingdom of peace and justice, and not to make it instead a reservoir of hatred and contempt, of mutual rejection and annihilation.”
Cardinal Pizzaballa called on those in authority to a “commitment to justice and respect for every person’s right to freedom, dignity and peace.”
“We too have a duty to commit ourselves to peace, first by preserving our hearts from all feelings of hatred, and instead cherishing the desire for good for everyone,” the patriarch wrote. “By committing ourselves, each in our own community contexts and in the forms we can, we should support those in need, help those who are personally invested to alleviate the suffering of those affected by this war, and promote every action of peace, reconciliation and encounter.”
The patriarch concluded: “Yet, we also need to pray, to bring our pain and our desire for peace to God. We need to convert, to do penance, and to implore forgiveness.”
Below is the prayer Cardinal Pizzaballa offers for use on the October 7 Day of Prayer:
Prayer for peace
Father of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and Father of all mankind,
Who in the cross of Your Son
and through the gift of His own life,
at great cost You wished to destroy
the wall of enmity and hostility
that separates peoples and makes us enemies:
Send into our hearts
the gift of the Holy Spirit,
that He may purify us from every feeling
of violence, hatred and revenge,
enlighten us to understand
the irrepressible dignity
of every human person,
and inflame us to the point of consumption
for a peaceful and reconciled world
in truth and justice,
in love and freedom.
Almighty and eternal God,
in Your hands are the hopes of men
and the rights of every people:
Assist with Your wisdom those who govern us,
so that, with Your help,
they will become sensitive to the sufferings of the poor
and of those who suffer the consequences
of violence and war;
may they promote the common good and lasting peace
in our region
and throughout the earth.
Virgin Mary, Mother of Hope,
obtain the gift of peace
for the Holy Land that gave birth to you
and for the whole world. Amen.
