Readings from Healing Srebrenica
Rumi’s Circle with the support of Chorlton Central Church brought together friends from different faith backgrounds to honour a lost generation of Bosnian men and boys, and to offer prayers of healing for all Bosnians (of all backgrounds), her neighbours, our communities, our future generations and our world.
There was meditation, prayers, poetry and whirling.
Our guide, a survivor of the siege of Sarajevo, said many things which struck a chord but two in particular stay with me. The first he said was early on in our visit after describing the conditions of life under the siege. He said that even 50 years of fruitless peace talks were preferable to even 1 single day of war. The second he said as we were leaving. He said, don’t simply live next door to your neighbours. Live with them! It seems the best defence against such atrocities occurring is to build strong harmonious communities which come together to recognise the destructive power of intolerance and hatred, and stand firmly against it, meeting it with friendship and love. The survivors tell their stories, answering our probing questions, reliving their pain, to give us an insight, and understanding so that we might challenge hatred and stand for something else.
~ Fatimah Ashrif visited Bosnia with the Remembering Srebrenica charity in November 2015
Peace and Reconciliation
The soul is like an inner sun, radiating light, warmth and a healing energy…
I spend a few moments seeing this centre of light and experiencing the healing energy…
As I visualise the soul with my mind’s eye, it opens it’s heart centre and from it emerges
compassion and mercy and the purest feelings of goodwill.From the centre of pure consciousness, I send pure thoughts of purest love
that touch all hearts and all minds for this is the energy –
the power of true feelings…It is the light of healing.
It is the light of peace
and hope
and reconciliation,
enabling all to forgive
and to forget
and to resolve all that has happened
and the light
that is sent –
it fills the darkness.I see the world, my family, my neighbours and friends
I see them all with love.
I feel great love flowing from my heart as I see them all as souls and see them all with love…Om Shanti
Om Shanti is a greeting of peace. I am a peaceful being…
~ Sue Sormaz, Brahma Kumaris prayer and meditation
O my God! O my God! Unite the hearts…
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 endeavor, 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.
~ Bahá’u’lláh
Prayer of Light
O God! Grant me Light in my heart, Light in my grave,
Light in front of me, Light behind me,
Light to my right, Light to my left,
Light above me, Light below me,
Light in my ears, Light in my eyes,
Light on my skin, Light in my hair,
Light within my flesh, Light in my blood, Light in my bones.
O God! Increase my Light everywhere.
O God! Grant me Light in my heart,
Light on my tongue, Light in my eyes, Light in my ears,
Light to my right, Light to my left,
Light above me, Light below me,
Light in front of me, Light behind me,
and Light within my self; increase my Light.~ Prophet Muhammad
Srebrenica Prayer
Loving and Compassionate God,
Today we remember with sadness
the cruelty and violence
associated with Srebrenica
and other genocides around the world.
We pray for a healing of memories and wounds,
and for a restorative justice
that seeks to expose and uncover abuse,
so that perpetrators may be brought to account
and those who survive may experience peace.
We recognise the difficulty of this process
and pray for all those who seek to raise awareness,
educate and prevent atrocities such as this
ever taking place in the future.
Give them and us wisdom and grace
to challenge all kinds of hate crime and speech.
Give us the understanding and thoughtfulness
to live well with all our neighbours
that together we may build a world of safety and love.
We ask this in the name of our brother Jesus
who gave his life for enemy and friend alike
Amen.~ Revd. Bob Day
Money and real estate occupy the body,
but all the heart wants is expanding friendship.A rose garden without a friend is indeed a prison;
a prison with a friend becomes a rose garden.If the pleasure of friendship did not exist,
neither men nor women would be here.A thorn from a friend’s garden is worth more
than a thousand cypresses and lilies.Love sewed us securely together.
We owe nothing to the needle and thread.If the house of the world is dark,
Love will find a way to create windows.If the world is full of arrows and swords,
the Armorer of Love has made us coats of mail.Love itself describes its own perfection.
Be speechless and listen.~ Rumi [Divan-e Shams-e Tabrizi: 1926, trans. by Kabir Helminski and Ahmad Rezwani, Love’s Ripening]
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