This is the fast that pleases me:

to break unjust fetters,
to let the oppressed go free,
to share your bread with the hungry
and shelter the homeless poor.
If you do away with the yoke, 
the clenched fist, the wicked word, 
if you give your bread to the hungry
and relief to the oppressed, 
your light will rise in the darkness. (Isaiah 58:6-7, 10)

All praise be yours, God our Creator,
as we wait in joyful hope
for the flowering of justice
and the fullness of peace.
All praise for this day, this season.
By our weekly fasting and prayer
cast out the spirit of war, of fear and mistrust,
and make us grow hungry for human kindness, 

thirsty for solidarity with all the people of your dear earth.
May all our prayer, our fasting and our deeds
be done in the name of Jesus. Amen.

from Pax Christi International

As Lent 2014 begins, Pax Christi International is launching a worldwide campaign, "Encountering Peace", to express solidarity with the people of Syria and to promote a negotiated solution to the extreme crisis gripping the country.

    As Pax Christi members around the world "encounter" in solidarity the people of Syria who are devastated by ongoing violence, we will fast and pray and advocate for an end to the violence and for a successful "encounter for peace" at the negotiations table.

    The Encountering Peace Campaign will take place from March 5 to April 20, 2014, to coincide with the Christian observance of Lent. In addition to prayer and fasting by individuals, Pax Christi member organisations are encouraged to organize opportunities for prayer, education, fasting and action in parishes, schools and religious communities.

    After three years of violent conflict in Syria, well over 100,000 people have been killed and an estimated 9 million others driven from their homes. More than 2.4 million refugees are registered in the region: some 932,000 in Lebanon; 574,000 in Jordan; some 613,000 in Turkey; 223,000 in Iraq; and about 134,000 in Egypt.

    In a recent, unanimous resolution (UNSC 2139), the UN Security Council demanded "that all parties, in particular the Syrian authorities, promptly allow rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian access for UN humanitarian agencies and their implementing partners, including across conflict lines and across borders". UNSC emphasized that the humanitarian situation will continue to deteriorate in the absence of a political solution.

    We call on all Pax Christi members and friends worldwide to raise awareness about the plight of the Syrian civilian population whose great agony continues:

• With others or in community - perhaps during a public prayer service for peace in Syria during Lent - prepare a message of solidarity for the people of Syria. Pax Christi International will work with Syrian partners to broadcast these messages via radio programmes that can be heard by people in Syria and by many Syrian refugees in the region.
• Fast for one day or more to show your solidarity with the Syrian people. Please let us know when you are fasting so we can let our contacts in Syria know.This can be done individually or as a group.
• Share the most recent statement of Pax Christi International with your own national authorities and with embassies in your country, in particular with those of the US, Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the European Union, urging them to support renewed peace talks that include the full participation of Syrian women and to stop fuelling the violence by sending arms and ammunition into Syria.

Please send us your messages via our website, email, Facebook and Twitter (when using social media, please use hashtags #EncounteringPeace  #Fasting4Syria).