Holy Land: Children pray for peace at Jerusalem Catholic school

Source: Vatican Media

Around 400 pupils, ranging in age from preschoolers to seniors in high school, gathered on Saturday morning in the courtyard of the Terra Sancta High School in Jerusalem, to pray for peace and the safety of their peers in Gaza. The initiative focussed on letting children speak for themselves. One of the high school students said: "It takes courage to make peace, much more than to make war."

"This morning, our students prayed for all the children, not only those in Gaza but also those in Jenin and Tel Aviv. Because all the children of the Holy Land, whether Palestinian or Israeli, are suffering now," said Father Ibrahim Faltas, director of the 19 Catholic schools managed by the Custody of the Holy Land.

The children prayed, sang, recited hymns and poems, in a crescendo that moved everyone present.

"These children and young people live in East Jerusalem," said the Custos of the Holy Land, Fr Francesco Patton, "but they feel a true sense of fraternity with their peers closer to the theatres of war. Many of them are Muslims, but they were more than happy this morning to recite the words of peace of St Francis."

Fr Patton said the peace prayer forms part of the Terra Sancta School's effort to teach children to live together in peace and to appreciate the values of the Pope's encyclical Fratelli tutti.

"We are all brothers and sisters," he said. "And so, the special prayer of this morning was a very articulated one with different prayers in accordance with the different classes of the children, but the focus was always peace."

He said the prayer focused only on peace and had no words that would promote or justify violence.

"I think that this is a very important part of the education of the children, because in a complex society and in a conflictual society it is essential to educate to the values of peace and fraternity."

Fr Patton noted that around 60,000 children attend Catholic schools run by the Friars Minor and the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, saying they are "schools of peace".

"They are the only real hope that this land may one day know a future of peace," he added.

Among the many hand-drawn placards at the prayers, was one depicting a young child patting her father on the back, with the words: "Don't cry, Baba [Daddy]. Bombs don't reach where I am now."