I’d like to give a warm welcome to all present here; we have among us new distinguished guestswho are joining us for the first time to whom we all say to you: El Salaam aleikoum, andShalom. We, the “True Life in God” people are in search as much as you are, of reconciliation, peace and unity with sincere brotherly love.
We are gathered here for the first time in Russia to join our prayers and pray to the AlmightyGod to enlighten our path to offer our specific contribution which will be according to God’sWill, on the theme of: “How to bridge our divisions”.
The inter religious dialogue has always been a valuable source in itself because it bringspeople together from different creeds, different mentalities and traditions, differentnationalities, to discover while together, elements that can approach us spiritually, on whichwe could build a common dialogue on them. Our dialogues that we are going to share inthese days should not remain just among us, but we should carry back home what touchedmost our heart and pass it on to our own people, teaching and educating them.
It is our duty towards God to remind them above all that God is Omnipresent, even now, thatGod is the Lover of mankind, of His creation. That our God is all forgiving, slow to angerand merciful. We should keep reminding them that we, as children of God should live inpeace because God is a God of Peace, not of war. We must keep reminding them as well thatwe all come from One Source, and that is God who is Our Father.
On earth, we all live under the same sun that God created; we live under God’s Light, andtherefore, we are but one big family living on this beautiful planet that He created for us andgiven it to us as a gift. So it does not matter what creed or what part of the world we maycome from. Those who are in different religions are not less creatures made in the Image ofGod and destined ultimately to live in the House of God. And as human beings, we havebasically the same needs; we all look for happiness, we all want good health, we all need tobe loved. Who of us does not appreciate peace? Who of us does not enjoy good health? Andwho of us rejects to be loved? No one.
Although we are small in number here, when we return home, we should act like the leaven(yeast) to spread peace around the world where there is chaos, love where there is hatred, unitywhere there is division thus we will be reflecting the Image of God. We should not remainlistless taking care only of our loved ones, but we should extend our love to the others whom wedon’t even know and pray that God gives to all His creation a new heart.
Therefore, our approach in these meetings should be genuine with the aim to promoteunderstanding and respect for each other’s religious traditions and refrain from denigratingthem. With this, God will be on our side and we will gain the trophy that is: reconciliation,peace and love.
In our Scriptures it is written: Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother isstill in the dark. (1 Jn 9)
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