Love is Mandatory, 'Like' is Optional: Praying for Peace in Iraq

"¹ First of all, then, I ask that supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings be offered for everyone,

"for kings and for all in authority, that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all devotion and dignity. "
(2 Timothy 1-2)

A post on Google Plus (August 25, 2014) let me know about Bishop Saad Sirop Hanna's challenge or request for a half-hour of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament at a particular time today.

• Video post
  Bishop Saad Sirop Hanna, on Facebook

The time was 6:00 p.m. Iraq time. Here in Sauk Centre, Minnesota, that's 10:00 a.m. — and there's a Eucharistic adoration chapel about a half-mile north of my home.


(Me, at the Eucharistic adoration chapel in Sauk Centre, Minnesota, this morning.)

It didn't take me 30 minutes to go through both prayers I found: one from the Chaldean Catholic Patriarch of Iraq; the other from Pope Francis. I spent the rest of the time 'praying' in the sense that I thought about what needs to happen: in the world, and in me.

Basically, we need to:

• Love God, love our neighbor
  (Matthew 22:36-40, Mark 12:28-31)
• See everyone as our neighbor
  (Matthew 5:43-44; Mark 12:28-31; Luke 10:25-30)
  (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1825)

It's like my Lord said:

..."²⁴ The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.' "
(Matthew 22:40)

Loving my neighbor is mandatory. Liking my neighbor is optional. Approving of what my neighbor does is occasionally impossible: particularly when my neighbor does something I know is wrong.

Loving disapproval isn't the beam-in-my-eye hypocrisy of Matthew 7:1-5, and that's another topic.

I hope and pray that Iraq, and the world, learns how to settle conflicts with reason, justice, and mercy. My guess is that cobbling together a globe-spanning 'Council of Humanity' will take centuries. But I think it will be worth the effort. And that's yet another topic.

More:

• "Prayer for Peace in Iraq"
  His Beatitude Louis Rafael Sako, Chaldean Catholic Patriarch of Iraq; via USCCB.org
  (From www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/prayers-and-devotions/prayers/prayer-for-peace-in-iraq-patriarch-sako-2014-08.cfm (August 25, 2014))
• Concerning the Situation in Northern Iraq
  Letter to the Secretary General of the United Nations
  Pope Francis (August 9, 2014)
  (From w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/letters/2014/documents/papa-francesco_20140809_lettera-ban-ki-moon-iraq.html (August 26, 2014))
• "Prayer for Peace"
  Pope Francis (June 8, 2014)
  (From http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/prayers/documents/papa-francesco_preghiere_20140608_invocazione-pace.html (August 25, 2014))

Maybe you've had enough of my ideas for now.

If not, here's part of my take on taking 'love of neighbor' seriously:

• " 'All are Equal Before God' — Rights of Humanity and a Right of the Aggressor"
  (August 24, 2014)
• "South Sudan: New Nation, Old Trouble"
  (December 25, 2013)
• "Love, Hate, and Lady Gaga"
  (May 27, 2012)
• "World Youth Day Madrid, and Living in an Imperfect World"
  (August 19, 2011)
• "Osama bin Laden is Dead: No Rant"
  (May 2, 2011)