Trappist nun in Syria emphasizes: prayer is a weapon

September 09, 2013

A Trappistine nun in Syria has emphasized the power of prayer in an interview with the Vatican newspaper.

The members of her community have strongly criticized President Barack Obama’s plans to attack Syria.

Pope Francis’s vigil of prayer for peace “may be the only real chance to counter this madness and prevent another armed intervention that will certainly not help a people who have already been martyred,” said Sister Marta Luisa Fagnani. “Prayer and fasting are like weapons to empty oneself of oneself and to try to be more reasonable, to make oneself listen to a deeper wisdom.”

“Prayer is powerful, of that we are convinced,” she added. “Otherwise, we would not have chosen this life. Prayer is not just a devotion, it is not just a retreat into peace. It is a powerful weapon, though also a peaceful one. It moves the heart, it has a force of its own. We believe this firmly.”

The residents of the village near the monastery “live in suspense, because they live in a fear more linked to the consequences of a possible mass attack from outside the country,” she continued. “The worry is above all about what will happen inside the country. Here in our area the tension is palpable, as is the fear.”

 

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Further information:

• The testimony from a Syrian monastery - The prayer that rises among the drums of war (L’Osservatore Romano)
• Strong words about Obama from Syria’s Trappist nuns (CWN, 9/4)