AMERICA/MEXICO - Day of prayer for peace on July 10: "the indignation of our people, faced with the barbarity of violence, is opening a door for peace"

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CEM

MEXICO

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Mexico City (Agenzia Fides) - "The murders and disappearances that are committed daily in the country are a call from God to unite to ask for peace. The spilled blood of these brothers and sisters is the blood of Jesus that falls to the earth to make it fertile and to embark on a path of peace. That is why we call for a Day of Prayer for Peace. We need to be united at this time when the indignation of our people, in the face of the barbarity of violence, is opening a door for peace for us". Thus begins the Message of the Mexican Episcopal Conference, the Conference of Major Superiors of Religious of Mexico and the Mexican Province of the Society of Jesus, inviting Bishops, priests, members of religious life, faithful and people of good will of Mexico, to "pray together for justice and reconciliation for peace".
The message, sent to Fides, offers some indications for this period. First of all, on July 10, it is requested "to remember all the priests, men and women religious who have been murdered in the country and offer the intention of the Eucharist for their lives so that their pain may accompany us on this path for the peace". Photographs of these men and women who gave their lives for the people of God and received a violent death will be displayed in the churches. For this month of July, it is suggested to celebrate holy masses or program community prayers "in significant places that represent all the people who have disappeared or suffered a violent death." "There is a wound to heal and there is the strength that the country needs today to build peace." In the masses on the last day of July, the 31st, everyone is invited to pray for the executioners and for the conversion of their hearts: "They are also our brothers and sisters and they need our prayers. No more violence in our country". Each Diocese, Religious Congregation or Parish will define the actions to be undertaken on this path for peace, such as hours of adoration, processions for peace, messages on social networks. "Today we need stories of hope, images in which we see the community praying and asking for peace" underline the signatories of the Message. "Our commitment is for social dialogue to build a path of justice and reconciliation that will lead us to peace. We are facing a complex problem that needs everyone to address it from the root and thus allow the Risen Christ to bring forth a new perspective that allows the agreements that Mexico needs today to be built". Finally, the signatories entrust themselves to the Virgin of Guadalupe, "who has always accompanied the people of God in the most difficult moments in her history" and attach the text of a Prayer for Peace. (SL) (Agenzia Fides, 7/7/2022)