Peace Day

The International Day of Peace, also known as the World Peace Day, occurs annually on September 21. It is dedicated to peace, or specifically the absence of war, such as might be occasioned by a temporary ceasefire in a combat zone. It is observed by many nations, political groups, military groups, and peoples. The first year this holiday was celebrated was 1981.

To inaugurate the day, the "Peace Bell" is rung at UN Headquarters. The bell is cast from coins donated by children from all continents. It was given as a gift by the Diet of Japan, and is referred to as "a reminder of the human cost of war." The inscription on its side reads: "Long live absolute world peace."

Peace on a Sunday Morning

When the mind is steady, we can see a little truth.

When the mind is disturbed, we can't see anything.

Growth allows a portion of the mind to remain

an objective witness even in the

face of disturbance. The witness is always there,

if we can keep a wakeful attitude.

Swami Kripalu

Prayer for Sunday

HOPE

Hope is a state of mind,

not of the world.

Hope, in this deep and powerful sense, is not the same as joy that things are going well,

or willingness to invest in enterprises that are obviously heading for success,

but rather an ability to work for something because it is good.

Vaclav Havel

Sunday Prayer of Gratitude

Good Morning

Good morning world, I'm

stiff, but optimistic. Good

morning birds. They fly

around the feeder like seed-

seeking missiles. Good

morning breath. I feel the

rise and fall of chest, the

easy out and in that signals

relaxation. Good morning

mist. The low clouds shroud

the mountains, drift through

the yard like wisps of smoke.

Good morning heart. Its

slow rhythm keeps me

company. The day awoke

two hours ago, and I'm just

catching up. Senses take in

this morning like a sponge.

Thoughts not yet caught up

in things to do follow the

raucous calls of crows and

wonder who they've found

to scold. A clear sense of

oneness pervades it all.

Spirit infuses the dew that

clings to every blade of

grass; Spirit lifts the front

leg of the doe as she paws

the soft ground by the salt

lick; Spirit fills me with the

buoyant certainty that this

day was made for the sole

purpose of celebrating

everything.

Danna Faulds

One Soul More Poems From the Heart of Yoga

Sunday Peace Prayer

To one who has been long in city pent
To one who has been long in city pent,
’Tis very sweet to look into the fair
And open face of heaven,—to breathe a prayer
Full in the smile of the blue firmament.
Who is more happy, when, with hearts content,
Fatigued he sinks into some pleasant lair
Of wavy grass, and reads a debonair
And gentle tale of love and languishment?
Returning home at evening, with an ear
Catching the notes of Philomel,—an eye
Watching the sailing cloudlet’s bright career,
He mourns that day so soon has glided by:
E’en like the passage of an angel’s tear
That falls through the clear ether silently.

John Keats (1795–1821).
The Poetical Works of John Keats. 1884.

Sunday Peace Prayer

October

Into the tail-feathered sumac
all light is absorbed
except for the red.

which crows its color
as the bird that wakes us
throws morning

from his throat
while he struts his plumage
among the leafy hens.

Elizabeth Tibbetts

Sunday Peace Prayer

There is no season when such pleasant and sunny spots may be lighted on,

and produce so pleasant an effect on the feelings,

as now in October.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Sunday Peace Prayer

GARDEN OF FLOWERS
Do not go to the garden of flowers!O friend! go not there;In your body is the garden of flowers.Take your seat on the thousand petalsof the lotus, and there gazeon the infinite beauty.
translated by Rabindranath Tagore,Songs of Kabir (2002 Edition)

Prayer for Sunday

Keep walking, though there's no place to get to.
Don't try to see through
The distances
that's not for human beings.
Move within

but don't move the way
fear makes you move.
Rumi

Sunday Peace Prayer

The Soul Garden

Just as the heart becomes carefree

in a place of green, growing plants.

goodwill and kindness are born

when are souls enter happiness.

Rumi

Pray for peace