Dear brothers and sisters:
You, your people and your government leaders are in our prayers just as Syria's people and also their leaders are. The sounds of the celebration and remembrance of Martin Luther King and the 50th anniversary of historical March to Washington are still fresh in our ears and hearts and we praise the Lord for all the witnesses that worked and are working for peace in your country and around the world. King's words resound loud and strong:
If you have weapons, take them home; if you do not have them, please do not seek to get them. We cannot solve this problem through retaliatory violence. We must meet violence with nonviolence. Remember the words of Jesus: "He who lives by the sword will perish by the sword." We must love our white brothers, no matter what they do to us. We must make them know that we love them. Jesus still cries out in words that echo across the centuries: "Love your enemies; bless them that curse you; pray for them that despitefully use you." This is what we must live by. We must meet hate with love... [ King's words after a bomb was thrown into his house in Alabama, on 30 January 1956, in Stride Toward Freedom (1958)]
The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate. So it goes. ... Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that. [ 'Where Do We Go From Here?" as published in Where Do We Go from Here : Chaos or Community? (1967), p. 62]
We pray asking God's forgiveness and for true peace for you, your people, the Syrian people and for all the world:
“ TRUE PEACE IS NOT MERELY THE ABSENCE OF TENSION: IT IS THE PRESENCE OF JUSTICE". (ML King, 1955)
Kyrie Eleison!
May God's love be with you while you witness and announce the Good News of Jesus the Christ the only one that gives TRUE PEACE.
We send you our love,
Eunice Arias & Luis Aramayo
Retired missionaries
http://www.enmediodelavida.com.ar
"Nacimos para manifestar la gloria de Dios que está en nosotros y nosotras. No está solamente en algunas personas escogidas, está en cada persona y, a medida que permitimos que brille nuestra propia luz, sin saberlo, permitimos que las otras personas hagan los mismo".
Nelson Mandela, 1994.
Discurso de instalación como presidente de África del Sur.
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