Dear God,
with you everything is possible.
Let the cup of war,
killing, and destruction,
the cup of bloodshed,
human anguish and desolation,
the cup of torture,
breakage in human relationships and abandonment...
Dear God,
let this cup pass us by.
We are afraid.
We are trembling in the depths of our being.
We feel the sweat and tears
of thousands of people all over the world,
people who are afraid -
afraid to fight,
afraid to kill,
afraid of being killed,
afraid of an uncertain future.
Henri J.M. Nouwen
This and this alone
Is true religion -
To serve thy brethren:
This is sin above all other sin,
To harm thy brethren:
In such a faith is happiness,
In lack of it is misery and pain:
Blessed is he who swervth not aside
From this strait path:
Blessed is he whose life is lived
Thus ceaselessly in serving God:
By bearing others' burdens,
And so alone,
Is life, true life, to be attained:
Nothing is hard to him who,
casting self aside,
Thinks only this -
How may I serve my fellow-men.
Tulsidas (translated from the Sanskrit by Mohandas Gandhi)