Mosaic

Issue date: 12/6/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Justine Tomon

Everyone knows that the holiday season is a time to be with your loved ones. It is a period to reflect on the past year of gifts and prepare for another year filled with unexpected treasures. As the year winds down, department stores gear up for crazy shoppers and the university prepares for celebrations of peace. The most recent of which was the sixth annual Festival of Lights.

On Tuesday, November 27th members of the Salve community joined together in an evening of peaceful prayer. In this tumultuous time of war and unrest, an approximate 50 people gathered to pray for peace in an uncertain world. As one woman explained to the crowd, politics must be pushed aside in order to unite in the light of peace.

During this seasonal time of charitable contributions and demeanors, people are more inclined to think of the world around them. Some are lucky to have families with them in their entirety, but some are not so lucky. Homes have been torn apart resulting from natural disasters. Some families have been devastated by violence. Some have been directly affected by the war.

People plucked from those different lives sat intently in the grand ballroom of Ochre Court united as one community. If a bystander did not know that it was a celebration of assorted faiths, the celebration would have looked like a traditional festival of Christmas joy. The crushed red velvet carpet emphasized the deep crimson of the cloth draped over the ceremonious altar. That same red richness cascaded down the French doors leading to the ocean beyond the magnificence on Ochre Point Avenue.

As the service unfolded, a smell of incense provided an authentic aromatic ambience. Light resonated from a collection of traditional candles endowing the cathedral-like room with a warm glow. Perhaps one of the most profound observations made throughout the ceremony was that, "The light from these candles in the darkness of winter rekindles hope and peace in our hearts."

That idea of relighting our hope in humanity was exemplified in Campus Ministry and the Multicultural Student Organization's decision to incorporate prayer from major religions besides simply Catholicism. Salve's mission has been integrated the universality of prayer through its acknowledgement of other major theologies, which was evident in Tuesday's event.

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