Peace in myself — peace in the world.
— Thích Nhất Hạnh.
Following a number of prayer requests from friends, family, and members here in the Silentium community on Thursday, I wrote that I was hearing the rising call to host a prayer gathering, which is now going by the name Prayer for Peace.
Yesterday I was offline and on retreat, but began work on this first gathering together early this morning. I’m here now to share with you the details of our first Prayer for Peace meeting.
The first Prayer for Peace gathering will be this evening, from 19:00 to 19:25 London time. Our Zoom space will be open from 18:45 to allow us to gather and settle. A little quiet music will play for 15 minutes as we arrive and settle, and again, for 5 minutes as our meeting draws to a close, and we leave in our own time.
Please note that like our Sunday gathering The Silence, Prayer for Peace is a silent prayer gathering, so if you have any questions or anything you wish to share with me before we meet, please email me. If you have any specific prayer requests, please submit them via the prayer requests page and I will attend to them.
If you have any questions around the nature of prayer, please ask in the comments, message me here, or via email. Also, if you are unsure of prayer, you might sit with some of the thoughts in my post here, Gratitude for what is, as I received messages from readers, and even my partner, that this post brought a clearer, simpler, and less unsettling approach to prayer. You do not need to be either skilful or experienced in prayer to join in this prayer for peace.
The reason our meeting is silent, is because we do not need words to pray in this way, rather, we can simply to rest our attention on our intention, as we set our intention for peace in ourselves, and peace in the world. Into this silent prayer we may also bring any specific people or situations we bring in our hearts, for particular attention.
If you know of other prayer groups meeting online or in person, around the world, and wish to share dates and times, please email them to me and I will add them to the Prayer for Peace page on my website.
And so, on this, the longest day, we begin our quiet work.
Until we gather later today, peace be upon you, within you, and all around you dear friends. Let us remember, we are with one another, for one another, and for all the world, together in this, our prayer for peace.
Remember, peace in myself — peace in the world.
There cannot be one without the other.
Visit the Prayer for Peace page for Zoom link and passcode.
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