Super
Martyrio will live blog for Pope Francis’ Day of
Prayer and Fasting for Peace in Syria this Saturday, September 7, 2013. This online opportunity will coincide in time
with the prayer service to be held at the Vatican, according to the Pope’s remarks during his «Angelus» this past Sunday, in which he called for prayer, “in the spirit of penance, invoking God’s great gift of peace upon the
beloved nation of Syria and upon each situation of conflict and violence around
the world.” The Vatican prayer
service will be held from 19:00 until 24:00 (7 p.m. to midnight) in Rome and
Central Europe (10 a.m.-3 p.m. on the U.S. West Coast; 11 a.m.-4 p.m. in El
Salvador and some places in Latin America; and 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. on the U.S.
East Coast).
Pope Francis’ initiative recalls the type of Church
action favored by Archbishop Óscar Romero, whose canonization cause this blog tracks. As we reflected on the blog in a recent post,
“Romero never organized a protest march, never
participated in a strike, never shouted political slogans, or waved political
banners. His voice was a church voice.”
Rather than political activism, Romero resorted to ecclesial action to
foster social consciousness. He would
schedule—or cancel—Masses, preach, hold rites of expiation, and hold
Eucharistic Adoration that tied-in visiting the sick. Church actions. Similarly, Pope Francis’ actions, such as
celebrating Chrism Mass in a juvenile detention center, his visit to Lampedusa,
and now this call to prayer for peace, seem to strike a reverent balance
between having a prophetic ministry and lending a voice that is credible from
the particular competence of the Gospel.
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