Catholics from around the diocese gathered at St. Mary’s Cathedral in St. Cloud Feb. 5 to pray for peace.
Bishop Patrick Neary hosted a Holy Hour in response to a request from Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. In a Jan. 28 statement, Archbishop Coakley called for a Holy Hour for Peace as “a moment of renewal for our hearts and for our nation.”
The archbishop invited “my brother bishops and priests across the United States to offer a Holy Hour for Peace in the days ahead,” providing a link to a USCCB webpage with instructions, Scripture readings and a “Litany of Peace.”
Bishop Neary said during his homily that peace is frequently misunderstood as the absence of war.
“To have genuine peace, we must open our eyes to see the image of Christ in every human being,” he said. “What I have learned over the years, having lived in East Africa, Chile, and Mexico, is that deep down, no matter our country of origin, our religion or creed, our race, or the color of our skin, we are one human family — brothers and sister of one another. We are all children of God, made in the image and likeness of God.”
In a Jan. 30 letter, Bishop Neary encouraged the parishes and religious communities of the diocese to offer their own Holy Hour for Peace.
“In this Holy Hour, we hold in prayer all who suffer because of war, conflict or injustice, and we also pray for the conversion of hearts — including our own,” he said. “When parishes across the country pause together to pray for peace, our unity becomes a visible sign of hope. As disciples, we are called to be peacemakers, and this Holy Hour is one meaningful way we, as a diocese and as the Body of Christ, live out that mission.”
He also noted that it is painful to see the violence happening around the world and to witness local immigrant communities living in fear.
“What we must realize is that to address the crisis before us we must not only see the presence of God in each human being, we must stop dehumanizing undocumented immigrants by categorizing them as criminals,” he said. “How we speak about human beings says more about us than it does about them. How often we forget that Christ was an infant refugee and immigrant in Egypt.”
