Vigil for Peace is a multilingual petition for peace through Scripture, prayer and music
By Dc. Tom Cuskey
Editor
Thanks to St. Valentine Day, February has the connotation as a month to celebrate love. Nowhere was that more evident than on Sunday, February 11 at St. Charles-St. Ann Church where love and hope for those living in war-torn countries was shared through prayer, Scripture and song.
The Vigil for Peace is centered on the Rosary but also includes reflections, Scripture readings and music. This year the Rosary was prayed in six languages and interpreted in American Sign Language (ASL) for the deaf community. Open to all faiths, the service is dedicated to seeking our Blessed Mother’s intercession for our troubled world.
Terri Condon recently retired after a 40-year career as a youth minister at various parishes. She helped start the Vigil for Peace in 2007 when the country was still engaged in conflicts brought on by the September 11 attacks. “It was done by several churches, way back then. And then I did another one in 2011, the 10-year anniversary of 9-11.” She brought this specific 2024 vigil to the St. Charles-St Ann parish spiritual committee. “And they embraced the concept of it, and then helped to organize and plan it all.”
Languages of love
Part of the concept of the vigil is to focus the prayer for peace on areas around the world currently impacted by armed conflict, spoken in the languages of people suffering from the results of fighting. “This year we had Hebrew, Arabic, Ukrainian, Spanish, English and then ASL.”
ASL, or American Sign Language, is where the Diocese of Syracuse’s Deaf Apostolate got directly involved, providing an interpreter for the event. Michele Murphy leads the deaf ministry office, and she shared that the interpreter assigned to the vigil reported that it was a beautiful event.
“That was one of the things she said,” Murphy reported, “that when they’re talking in the different languages, it didn’t even seem like they were. It just seemed like it was flowing. Naturally, the way it was supposed to flow. You could tell it was just kind of like a rhythm.”
Language barriers that exist among the spoken word and interpreting for the deaf community added another dimension to the task at hand. To overcome that, the ASL interpreter was given English translations of all the readings, talks and prayers that were shared in different languages.
Condon said the congregation took inspiration from those around them who prayed in their own language. “People commented on the Hebrew, just being incredible to listen to and to hear.” She pointed out that Hebrew was the final language shared in praying the Rosary, and it was a challenge to find a Catholic, someone who understands the relevance of the rosary, who also speaks Hebrew. “And we found Dr. Yuri Pavlov,” she told us, adding that he “was just baptized last year by Friar Gerry Waterman at SU. He’s a professor there who’s from Russia. But he took Hebrew and can speak Hebrew beautifully.”
Among those in attendance, leading the prayers, was Father Peter Major, a native ordained priest of the diocese who has devoted much of his ministry to missionary work. He prayed the rosary in Arabic. “It was very emotional for him because he lived in the Sudan,” Condon explained. “And Deacon Aleu Tong prayed it with him. So that was very powerful.”
Deacon Aleu serves at the parishes of St. Vincent de Paul and Blessed Sacrament in Syracuse where a large Sudanese community worships. He was invited by Father Major to assist. “I was very happy to be a part of it because we need peace in Sudan. We need to pray for peace in Ukraine. We need to pray for peace in Jerusalem. We need to pray for peace around the world. We need Mary the Queen of Peace to help us in prayer for peace.”
Murphy found that where there are differences, there are also common experiences that remind us that we are called to live in peace.
“Everybody says the same rosary. It’s not different in a different language. So, when you’re doing it, and when you’re doing it in all the languages, it really is amazing how we all are exactly saying the same thing.”
