Opening Ceremony 2023
Please do check out the video on YouTube of the opening ceremony during which all of these prayers were read and the traditions they arise from are honored.
Global Peace Prayer, written and read by Vanessa Edwards
Available in Portuguese, Spanish, German, and French, here
We celebrate the time of world peace
As each person surrenders to their higher selves and gains a new inner
peace and serenity
Leaves behind the residual conditioning and emotions of the past
and cultivates a new level of understanding, forgiveness, and compassion
Enabling the world’s population to live together in acceptance of each person’s individuality, diversity, and beliefs
Embracing a new level of stability, security, world peace, harmony, unity, and plenty for everyone
As each person moves forward on this level of unconditional love, may they shine and become empowered as they recognise their individual strengths, gifts, and talents, and accelerate their own learning, experience, knowledge, and wisdom
Let us understand how all of this can affect a new foundation and benefit the
highest good of mankind and humanity in actively promoting peace through the power of love, and positive thoughts, words, and actions to help find individual and global solutions
May each person make a difference in our World and from this life experience move forward with understanding and enlightenment
This prayer is said with the highest levels of love, sincerity, and integrity
In love and light and healing
Ask, Seek, Knock, Matthew 7:7 & 7:8, read by Sue Cooper
7. Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
8. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
The words of Teresa de Avila, Spanish mystic, Catholic Saint & Carmelite nun read by Karen Allen
Accustom yourself continually to make many acts of love [or kindness] for they rekindle and melt the soul.
And,
To have courage for whatever comes in life — everything lies in that.
And,
May there be inner peace today. May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be. May you remember the infinite possibilities that are born of faith. May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you. May you be content knowing you are a child of God. Let this presence settle into your bones and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every one. of us.
En Espanol:
Las palabras de Teresa de Ávila, mística española, santa católica, y monja carmelita:
Acostúmbrate continuamente a hacer muchos actos de amor, porque reavivan y derriten el alma|
Y
Tener coraje [valor o fuerza] para lo que venga en la vida, todo radica en eso
Y
Que hoy haya paz interior. Que confíes en Dios que estás exactamente donde debes estar. Que no olvides las infinitas posibilidades que nacen de la fe. Que puedas usar esos dones que has recibido y transmitir el amor que se te ha dado. Que estés contento/a de saber que eres un hijo/una hija de Dios. Deja que esta presencia se asiente en tus huesos y que permita a tu alma la libertad de cantar, bailar, alabar y amar. Está allí para todos y cada uno de nosotros.
The Unbearable Wholeness of Being by Ilia Delio, a Franciscan Theologian, read by Gill Harbach
Creation is not a demonstration of God’s boundless power but of God’s boundless love, a love so great that creation is drenched in it.
In the words of the penitent Angio “The whole creation is pregnant with God.”
We do not see this God because we are not looking for this God.
We want a God because we are not looking for this God. We want a God who will lord it over us and be superior to us, and when we can’t find such a God we invent one.
But God is wholeness and depth of love, a love that does not absorb others but accepts and affirms them precisely in their otherness; true love gives true freedom to the other.
To say God is love is not to find God anywhere other than where love is, in every created being, from quarks to stars to human persons.
God is the whole of every whole, love bending low, hiding in the details of nature. The mystery of divine love is hidden in the other, and it is precisely in the other that God shines through (or hides) – in the unbearable wholeness of being.
In the world of evolving reality, everything lives between love and nothingness. That is why each being must cling to love, for love is the next creative moment of life, and everything alive is drawn to trust and surrender.”
Prayer for Love and Peace written and read by Gurpal Hayer
Dear Friends, Let us close our eyes and feel love and peace for each other.
We are navigating times with much disruption, fear and chaos – we call upon the Universe to support love and light in this world. We share a vision and a dream for a more beautiful world. Let’s hold that vision in our spiritual eye and feel love and warmth with it coming about.
Through holding a high energy vibration of love – this world is being brought about. A world based on love, compassion, empathy, understanding, collaboration and peace.
Thank you Universe for this possibility and for this coming about.
We all manifest and work towards this vision. A vision which is written and is coming.
Wishing you all love and light, forever and always.
We are the Ones We’ve Been Waiting read by Sarah McLean
“The Hopi Tribe is a sovereign nation located in northeastern Arizona. The reservation occupies part of Coconino and Navajo counties, encompasses more than 1.5 million acres, and is made up of 12 villages on three mesas. Since time immemorial, the Hopi people have maintained an sacred covenant to live as peaceful and humble farmers respectful of the land and its resources. Over the centuries they have survived as a tribe, and to this day have managed to retain their culture, language and religion despite influences from the outside world. This is a prophecy made by Hopi Elders in June 2000. Reading this 23 years later, this could be the time when “the river is flowing very fast and there are those who will be afraid. Know the river has its destination.”
You have been telling people that this is the Eleventh Hour, now you must go back and tell the people that this is the Hour.
And there are things to be considered…
Where are you living?
What are you doing?
What are your relationships?
Are you in right relation?
Where is your water?
Know your garden.
It is time to speak your truth.
Create your community.
Be good to each other.
And do not look outside yourself for your leader.
Then he clasped his hands together, smiled, and said, “This could be a good time! There is a river flowing now very fast. It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid. They will try to hold on to the shore. They will feel they are being torn apart and will suffer greatly. Know the river has its destination. The elders say we must let go of the shore, push off into the middle of the river, keep our eyes open, and our heads above the water.
And I say, see who is in there with you and celebrate. At this time in history, we are to take nothing personally, least of all ourselves. For the moment that we do, our spiritual growth and journey come to a halt.
The time of the lone wolf is over. Gather yourselves! Banish the word ’struggle’ from your attitude and your vocabulary. All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration.
We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.”
Indigenous Ojibway Tradition read by Erica Anderson
I am my silence.
I am not the business of my thoughts or the daily rhythm of my actions.
I am not the stuff that constitutes my world.
I am not my talk.
I am not my actions.
I am my silence.
I am the consciousness that perceives all these things.
When I go to my consciousness, to that great pool of silence that observes the intricacies of my life, I am aware that I am me.
I take a little time each day to sit in silence so that I can move outward in balance into the great clamour of living.
Svetasvartara Upanishad read by Shaun Glossop
“Shaivism is little known in the West, although it has many millions of faithful followers in Asia (it’s one of the biggest branches of Hinduism), and it is considered by academics and archeologists to be one of the oldest religions in the world – very possibly the oldest, as evidence of it appears among the very first human civilisations.
It is a simple but profound spiritual philosophy that has no human founder, and it’s main belief is in the Oneness of all life, with all living things being seen as an expression of the one life that flows through all. This one life is understood, in its highest form, to be the Hindu god Shiva (when in male guise) and also the Hindu goddess Shakti (when in female guise).
Shaivism is a gentle, nature-based religion of peace and compassion that has meditation as its central practice. The central aim is to realise the True Self within, which is considered to be a part of Shiva-Shakti.
For me, the philosophy of Shaivism is best encapsulated in these three short verses from the Svetasvartara Upanishad, an ancient holy text that is widely viewed as Shaivism’s core text:”
The One God is hidden in all beings.
He pervades all,
And He is the inner soul of all beings.
He presides over all actions,
And all beings dwell in Him.
He is the witness,
And He is pure consciousness.
His is unique and one,
And He is devoid of all limitations.
He is the eternal among the eternals,
And the enlightenment among the enlightened.
Though One, He lives as the lives of the many.
Anyone who knows Him – The Cause of all,
He who is to be comprehended through contemplation and right living –
Is freed from all fetters.
He is woman. And He is man.
He is the youth and the maiden, too.
He is the dark-blue bird
And the green parrot with red eyes.
He is the seasons and the seas.
He is, having no beginning and no end.
Forgotten Friend, written and read by Don’Angelica Silva
By the measured pitch of a sad song. It’s then our hands did slip. Bonds dance and sway.
Until pushed away. Tomorrow suffers each day’s dawn.
A script shaped by time. Framed with growth in mind. As form was made to teach. Scenes filled with kin.
Foes masked as friends. Vows hungered while you dined.
Rapture soaked in lusty tides. Child of nature, lost at sea. Sweet ones born. Many lovers scorned. While love waits so patiently.
Swift breeze of spring long gone waste. Beauty yearns to be released.
This much we’ve learned; let bridges burn. Nations die of rifts this deep.
Now set these petty notes adrift;
To find lost friendships drowned in peace.
“A Way In” by Rabbi Yael Levy, founder of a Jewish Mindfulness community, read by Anne Sussman
Olam chesed yibaneh,
We will build this world with love. (Psalm 89:3)
“Place upon all beings
Peace, goodness, blessing,
Life, grace, loving-kindness
Compassion.
Bring us to our knees in the face of suffering.
Let us know the oneness of all,
Even in the midst of devastation and pain.
Let shared sorrows,
Collective grief,
Soften our hearts for kindness and love.
Open us to the paths of life;
To generosity, kindness,
Justice, compassion,
And peace.
Let us see with an expansive perspective
The world and all that is
And help us rise again and again
Into the light of possibility.
May our broken hearts find solace,
May out souls know the strength of love
And together may we mend and weave
A world of
Harmony, compassion and peace.
Bodhisattva Prayer For Humanity* by Shantideva read by Lauri Kriva
“This is One of the Dalai Lama’s favorite prayers* extracted from A Guide to Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, by Shantideva, a Buddhist master from the monastic university of Nalanda, India. It was composed in the 8th century.”
May I be a guard for those who need protection,
A guide for those on the path,
A boat, a raft, a bridge for those who wish to cross the flood.
May I be a lamp in the darkness,
A resting place for the weary,
A healing medicine for all who are sick,
A vase of plenty, a tree of miracles.
And for the boundless multitudes of living beings,
May I bring sustenance and awakening,
Enduring like the earth and sky
Until all beings are freed from sorrow,
And all are awakened.
(*recited daily by the Dalai Lama)
For a New Beginning by John O’Donohue read by Suzi von Mensenkampff
In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming, Waiting until you were ready to emerge.
For a long time it has watched your desire,
Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,
Noticing how you willed yourself on,
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.
It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the gray promises that sameness whispered,
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,
Would you always live like this.
Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
A path of plenitude opening before you.
Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life’s desire.
Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.
Peace Prayers excerpted from “Oneness: Great Principles Shared by all Religions” by Jeffrey Moses read by Rev. Dr. Laurel Geise
“During the next 40 days, you have a unique opportunity to open your heart to experience more peace, more love, more unity. When we look to the wisdom traditions, we find that each facet of faith leans on the strength of unity to bring more peace and love into our world. Allow these words of wisdom to inspire you as you are uplifted by the Feast for the Soul.”
From Sufism (mystical Islam):
“The soul of Oneness is the soul of all people,
the soul of the all-inclusive Sympathy,
of unity and of non-separateness.”
From the Bahai tradition:
“The well-being of humanity, its peace and security,
are unattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established.”
From Buddhism:
“Blessed is the teaching of the truth,
Blessed the harmony of the community,
Blessed the union of those who live in peace.”
From Judaism:
“Behold, how good and pleasant it is when people dwell in unity!”
From the Sioux, Native American tradition:
“There can never be peace between nations until it is first
known that true peace is within the souls of all people.”
From Hindusim:
“Common be your intentions;
Common be the wishes of your hearts;
Common be your thoughts,
so that there may be thorough union among you.”
From Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.:
“We are a single interwoven garment of destiny.”
