Syrian Civil War: 470,000
Iraq: 150,000
Afghanistan: 100,000
Nigeria: 11,000
The numbers above are estimated death toll of some wars.
Iraq: 150,000
Afghanistan: 100,000
Nigeria: 11,000
The numbers above are estimated death toll of some wars.
45 Years of Terrorism. Source: Global Terrorism Database (https://www.start.umd.edu/gtd/)
When I was small, I thought that one day we would achieve World Peace. 20 years later, I can see that wars are still here.
The world peace utopia has been a topic for thinkers and philosophers since ancient time. A multitude of theories for achieving world peace have been proposed and debated, for instance, peace through strength (e.g. Pax Romana, Pax Americana), Marxism, democracy, globalization, economic reforms, and religious methods. Different parts (nations) of our world have adopted different philosophies towards ensuring peace, by means of internal or cooperative measures.
The world peace utopia has been a topic for thinkers and philosophers since ancient time. A multitude of theories for achieving world peace have been proposed and debated, for instance, peace through strength (e.g. Pax Romana, Pax Americana), Marxism, democracy, globalization, economic reforms, and religious methods. Different parts (nations) of our world have adopted different philosophies towards ensuring peace, by means of internal or cooperative measures.
To gauge the efficacy of these measures, an indicator of world peace has been published by Vision of Humanity in the form of the Global Peace Index (GPI). The annual report for 2018 shows that the GPI dropped by 0.27% in the last year, marking the fourth successive year of deteriorations. Ninety-two countries deteriorated, while 71 countries improved. The 2018 GPI reveals a world in which the tensions, conflicts, and crises that emerged in the past decade remain unresolved, especially in the Middle East, resulting in a gradual, sustained fall in peacefulness.
2018 Global Peace Index. Source: Vision of Humanity (http://visionofhumanity.org/press-release/global-peace-index/)
Now it is the time for us to realize:
Oh! I am so blessed to live in Europe, it is almost like an overprotected greenhouse!
Oh! I am so blessed to live in Europe, it is almost like an overprotected greenhouse!
Jesus said, love one another as I have loved you. But how can we love them, how can we help those people in our daily lives? Then an idea came to my mind:
Ask for Mary’s help!
| Mary is a gift that Jesus left for us as our Mother. We are all the time under her eyes, and as is the instinct of a mother, whenever she sees her children suffer, her heart will have greater pain. So, in how much pain is Mary when she is watching over us in suffering? How sad is she when people are killing and hurting each other in name of God? Maybe at the end, there are more than seven swords through her heart. Through the ages, Mary has kept company to Saints and Apostles, and we should not forget that she is also with us or how happy she is if we ask her to be with us! Some of my priest friends often remind me that Mary is a tender mother. Like other mothers, she always wants to stay close and listen to her children. In Spain the first Sunday of May is Mother's Day. What would Mother Mary want for this special day? Maybe a decade of the rosary, in which every Ave Maria becomes a rose for her! |  Our Lady who softens evil hearts. Source: Wikipedia |
The message of the miraculous medals in France was that we ask graces from Our Lady. It has been an intense Easter, what with the terror in Sri Lanka, the election in Spain, the unrest in Venezuela and various attacks in other places. We need peace all the time, and who can be a better advocate than Mary for granting us peace? So why not pray the 24-hour rosary in May on the first Saturday of the month?
This is how it went: during a period of 24 hours, people from all over the world took a shift to pray the rosary. Each shift was 30 minutes, and more than 50 people confirmed their participatation. Some represented religious communities, others were young people, some were families, and of course there were priests. We are truly the Body of Christ, and we love Mary through the Body of Christ!
Thank you all who made this possible! We hope to do this kind of praying event more often! If you want to join us next time, you can sign up here: https://forms.gle/hyoA92hssdU1ZaaWA
Thank you all who made this possible! We hope to do this kind of praying event more often! If you want to join us next time, you can sign up here: https://forms.gle/hyoA92hssdU1ZaaWA
Note: Special thanks to Aayush, who drafted part of the text and gathered the statistic data. :)
About the Author
 | Yiran, or Maria Micaela. Born in China as a Protestant Christian but baptised in Spain (2015), being the only Catholic in the family. I came to Turku as an Erasmus exchange student and I stayed for my MSc studies. I'm also a participant of the Youth Weekends at Stella Maris. Cooking, running and photography are my hobbies. |
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