ASIA/PHILIPPINES – The time of Ramadan, a time to delve into the “spirituality of life in dialogue”
ASIA/PHILIPPINES – The time of Ramadan, a time to delve into the “spirituality of life in dialogue”
Zamboanga City (Agenzia Fides) – “Ramadan 2024, holy month for Muslim believers, coincides with the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the ‘Silsilah’ Dialogue Movement. The spirituality of ‘Silsilah’ is the ‘spirituality of life in dialogue’. Therefore, in Silsilah this year we want to share a spiritual message of love with the Muslim ‘umma’ (community) and with all humanity. Love grows if there is a spirituality of deeper dialogue with God, with ourselves, with others and with creation. This is what we call the spirituality of life in dialogue. This is the spirituality that we share with the Muslim faithful in our interreligious community of Silsilah”: this is how the PIME missionary, Father Sebastiano d’Ambra, expressed to Fides Agency, presenting the message that the movement for Islamic-Christian dialogue ‘Silsilah ‘, founded by him and present in the south of the Philippines, has been broadcast on the occasion of the holy month of the Islamic community.
“The Silsilah dialogue movement welcomes the month of Ramadan as a fruitful form and opportunity for solidarity with the Muslim community in the Philippines and around the world,” notes the missionary. And he adds, quoting the message broadcast: “We Christians – who live a similar time of reflection to return to ourselves, Lent – empathize with the Muslim faithful. Fasting, prayer and acts of charity are the cornerstones of Ramadan spirituality, admired by people of different religions. This practice guides the Muslim ‘umma’ towards the ‘great jihad’, which is not at all the ‘holy war’, but rather the struggle for the purification of the heart.”
Silsilah’s message reads: “The concept of dialogue as an expression of love is what we try to live and share in many ways, and we see the spirit of Ramadan as a journey in this direction. Therefore, although all religions have specific ways of fasting, praying and performing acts of charity, we must be united in the central point of spirituality, which is love.
“At a critical time in history, characterized by calamities, climate change and signs of global war, we must stand together in the spirit of the month of Ramadan to reflect on what we can do together to be promoters of love in all aspects”, reads the text.
“We deeply believe that the culture of dialogue – he continues – is the path to peace and that true peace is nourished by love. The world today must be united to overcome the many dramatic events of history, first and foremost the alarming reality of climate change. We are invited to reflect on what we can do to promote an authentic dialogue with Creation.”
During the period of Ramadan, concludes Father D’Ambra, “we are all invited to reflect on the urgency of a common commitment to protect Mother Earth, our ‘common home’, and to make options and works of peace today, in a mission to carry out together, a mission of fasting from our selfishness, to once again put the love of God, the love of our neighbor, the love of Creation at the center of life.”
(PA) (Agenzia Fides 14/3/2024)
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