Prayer Service Focuses On Peace And Religious Persecution
Father Alex Zenthoefer, pastor of Evansville’s Annunciation of the Lord Parish, asked that important question Aug. 10 during an afternoon prayer service for peace in the Middle East that he organized in response to Pope Francis’ extraordinary calls for prayer last weekend.
In a step heretofore unseen since Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI first activated the @Pontifex Twitter account in Dec. 2012, the Holy Father posted multiple tweets daily over the weekend of Aug. 8-10, and he urged Catholics and all people to join him in praying for those who are suffering in Iraq and for peace in the Middle East and around the world.
The first of nine tweets over those three days set the tone for all of them: “I ask all men and women of goodwill to join me in praying for Iraqi Christians and all vulnerable populations.”
During the Sunday afternoon prayer service, which attracted scores of Catholics from across the Diocese to Annunciation’s Christ the King Church, Father Alex talked about a vision he had while contemplating one of the Aug. 8 Mass readings, from the prophet Nahum. “Nahum was prophecying in the same area where our brothers and sisters in Christ are being persecuted,” he said.
“Nahum provided a message of tremendous hope, telling the people that God had not abandoned them. And if we believe what we say we believe about baptism – when we say that if one of us suffers then all of us suffers; if one of us rejoices then all of us rejoice – then we are all suffering with our brothers and sisters in Iraq.
“How can we not pray?” Father Alex asked. “How can we not beg the Lord for mercy?”
After noting that hatred, violence, anger and division are the collective root of the tragic scenes in Iraq and other parts of the world, he suggested a simple solution that must start with every individual.
“The hatred, violence, anger and division can only be driven out if there is a heart filled with joy … filled with hope … filled with love, forgiveness and the desire to show mercy,” Father Alex said.
We are here to beg for the Lord’s Mercy for our brothers and sisters in Christ who are suffering this day. We are also here so that this does not happen again … that it does not happen here … that it does not happen in our hearts.”
