These words originally shared by Chaplain Kugler at the Vigil for Peace on Sunday, 2/27/22.
My Beloved Yale Family,
This is a vigil calling for peace and my words are intended to both amplify that call and turn it into action.
Our world, this beautiful, yet imperfect world that we all share breaks a little bit more every day. We have been living with a deep burden of global unrest, uncertainty, grief and fear that is starting to feel brutally defiant in its staying power. Our spirits are suffering under the stress of it all.
And now here we are, gathered in this imperfect way, across these many screens longing for connection, for reasons to hope, longing for multiple kinds of peace.
What can we do thousands of miles away from a new war, a new invasion to bring peace?
This is a vigil calling for peace, peace in Ukraine where people are fleeing, hiding or preparing to lose their very lives in defense of their home, their way of life.
This is a vigil calling for peace, peace in all places where aggression, poverty, ignorance and violence oppresses and destroys our human family.
This is a vigil calling for peace, peace in our aching hearts so that we can find the strength to keep going and be part of the kind of healing that is restorative.
This is a vigil calling for peace, peace in our minds so that we can use them to create a more just world, where power of means or might is used to elevate the human condition and to cherish our planet.
This is a vigil calling for peace, peace in our relationships with others where we can see and be seen for the uniquely beautiful mysteries contained in each of us.
This is a vigil calling for peace, peace in the light, peace in the dark, peace in the big, peace in the small, peace in the weak, peace in the strong. This is a vigil calling for peace.
One of my favorite prayers is also a hymn, it is the Prayer of St. Francis. In its entirety it is a distinctly Christian prayer, however, the first part feels accessible to all people and it is, in this moment, a much needed balm for the soul. The prayer asks for us to be instruments of God’s peace, the prayer reveals that making peace is in our hands.
Lord make Me an instrument of Your peace
Where there is hatred let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
Where there is sadness joy.
This is a vigil calling for peace. May you be shalom, may you be salaam, may you be shanti, may you bring and be peace.