March 22: Day by Day with Father Bill
MONDAY OF THE FIFTH WEEK OF LENT
from Pope Francis’ Prayer for the Victims of War in the backdrop of the rubble of four churches destroyed by ISIS, Mosul, Iraq, March 7, 2021
Today all of us raise our voices in prayer to Almighty God for all the victims of war and armed conflict. Here in Mosul, the tragic consequences of war and hostility are all too evident. How cruel it is that this country, the cradle of civilization, should have been afflicted by so barbarous a blow, with ancient places of worship destroyed and many thousands of people – Muslims, Christians, Yazidis – who were cruelly eliminated by terrorism and others, forcibly displaced or killed! Today, however, we reaffirm our conviction that fraternity is more durable than fratricide, that hope is more powerful than hatred, that peace more powerful than war. This conviction speaks with greater eloquence than the passing voices of hatred and violence, and it can never be silenced by the blood spilled by those who pervert that name of God to pursue paths of destruction.