World celebrates Interfaith Harmony Week |01 February 2022

The world celebrates the ‘World Interfaith Harmony Week’ starting today, February 1. Nowadays the world is considered to be a global village and to live in this village we have no choice but to live in harmony. The global pandemic brought by Covid-19 is showing us how vulnerable we are and how dependent we are on each other.

In order to live in harmony, many of us believers and non-believers agree that there should be some basic principles and rules for this to happen. Many also believe that this has nothing to do with your belief in any of the world’s religion. It is the human who has to be in harmony with each other.

According to another school of thought “Inter-religious harmony is crucial in maintaining political and national stability. Living in a peaceful and harmonious environment is important when the society consists of diverse races and religious adherents. The existence of minor tension in the society to some extent has jeopardised inter-religious relations”.

What is interfaith harmony?

Interfaith harmony means bringing peace and tranquility promoting among people by positivity. There is an interrelationship among people of different religious beliefs at the individual and institutional level which projects a positive picture in the polity of nations.

Why is interfaith harmony important?

Interfaith harmony embodies the notion of live and let live. In a world of increasing political and economic dissonance, peaceful coexistence among practitioners of various religious beliefs can prove to be the way forward for peace and prosperity.

Recognising the imperative need for dialogue among different faiths and religions to enhance mutual understanding, harmony and cooperation among people, the General Assembly encourages all States to spread the message of interfaith harmony and goodwill in the world’s churches, mosques, synagogues, temples and other places of worship during that week, on a voluntary basis and according to their own religious traditions or convictions.

Compiled by Vidya Gappy

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Sifco wishes all a happy and blessed 2022 Interfaith Harmony Week

World Interfaith Harmony Week is a UN resolution for a worldwide week of interfaith harmony adopted in 2010 and falls in the first week of February of every year and aims to promote harmony between all people regardless of their faith and reaffirms that mutual understanding and inter-religious dialogue constitute important dimensions of a culture of peace.

It is [also] essential to resist forces of division that spread misunderstanding and mistrust especially among peoples of different religions. The fact is, humanity everywhere is bound together, not only by mutual interests, but by shared commandments to love God, the good and neighbour.

Humanity gives thanks for this initiative, which will celebrate its twelfth anniversary in October this year.

In previous years, the Seychelles Interfaith Council (Sifco) has been deeply enriched in observing Interfaith Week by visiting centres of worship of its member faiths – such as the Brahma Kumaris Centre in Hermitage, the Hindu VinayagarTemple and the Sheikh Mohamed bin Khalifa Mosque in Victoria.

Unfortunately, due to the current health restrictions imposed because of the pandemic, the anticipated visit to another member centre by Sifco members during the 2022 Interfaith Week will not be able to take place.

Sifco encourages individual religious organisations to observe the week of February 1-7 the best each can to mark this international event in the midst of unrest and tensions within or between nations in various parts of our world.

Happy and blessed 2022 Interfaith Harmony Week to us all!

Seychelles Interfaith Council (Sifco)

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Prayers for Unity

O my God! O my God! Unite the hearts of Thy servants, and reveal to them Thy great purpose. May they follow Thy commandments and abide in Thy law. Help them, O God, in their endeavour, and grant them strength to serve Thee. O God! Leave them not to themselves, but guide their steps by the light of Thy knowledge, and cheer their hearts by Thy love. Verily, Thou art their Helper and their Lord.

Baha’u’llah

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Eternal Father, source of love,
by your Holy Spirit you move human hearts
so that enemies may speak to each other again,
adversaries join hands,
hatred is overcome by love,
revenge gives way to forgiveness,
and discord is changed to mutual respect.

Grant us, through the action of the Spirit,
the grace to contribute,
together with all people of good will,
to the fulfillment of your Son's will:
"That they may all be one!"

With faith, we ask you for the divine gift of unity.
Give us enough love and courage
to seek to overcome disunity,
whether it is friction in our families, tensions in our neighborhood,
disagreements at work, in our parish, or among different religious groups.

Help us to enter into honest and respectful dialogue.
Keep us from being indifferent.
Soften our hearts. Open our ears.
Help us to listen with close attention to the other person,
sharing in the pain caused by their wounds.

Help us to build bridges rather than walls.
Make us instruments of your peace.

We humbly pray to you:
allow us, your children,
to live in solidarity with all people
and so to honor you, who are the Father of us all.

We ask these things through Jesus Christ,
in the unity of the Most Holy Trinity.
Amen.

Anonymous meditation based on Eucharistic Prayer for Reconciliation II.

Let Us Be United

Let us be united;

Let us speak in harmony;

Let our minds apprehend alike.

Common be our prayer,

Common be the end of our assembly;

Common be our resolution;

Common be our deliberations.

Alike be our feelings;

Unified be our hearts;

Common be our intentions;

Perfect be our unity.

— Rig Veda