WORLD RELIGIONS DAY

World Religion Day is an interfaith observance initiated in 1950 by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’i of the United States, celebrated worldwide on the 3rd Sunday of January each year. Though initiated in the United States, World Religion Day has come to be celebrated internationally. Its purpose is to promote the idea that the spiritual principles underlying the world’s religions are harmonious, and to suggest that religions can play a role in unifying humanity.

Sault Ste. Marie (Ontario) is celebrating its 34^th annual observance of World Religion Day with its locally selected theme, “Seeking Peace in a Time of Turmoil – The Strength we Receive from Our Faith Groups.” We have a volunteer interfaith group that meets to organize our local event. It is a great experience to gather, learn and pray together.

The Golden Rule is observed as a universal truth by all the major religious traditions:

• Buddhism – Do not hurt others with what brings pain to you.
• Christianity – Treat others the way you want them to treat you.
• Hinduism – Treat others as you would like to be treated yourself.
• Islam – Do for all people what you would wish done for you.
• Judaism – What you dislike for yourself, do not do to anyone.
• Indigenous – Live in balance, for we are all connected.
• Sacred Earth – Do what you wish, as long as it harms no one.

Let us pray in the words often attributed to our beloved friend St. Francis of Assisi on the 800^th anniversary of his death:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Amen.

Pat Carter, CSJ is a disciple, a teacher and an advocate for the poor. She has been a Sister of St. Joseph for more than half of her life and loves to use words to inspire faith and laughter. She is a cantor at her parish of St. Jerome’s in Sault Ste. Marie.