Mexico
Mexico City: report by Mónica S. Simone
On this wonderful day, more than 50 souls gathered to realize peace in our hearts and enlighten our land with blessings of peace. It was the first time we organized a ceremony in Federal District, and we did not know how many people would come, as a football (soccer) game was on at the same time as our gathering. To our surprise, there were many more people than we expected.
As people arrived, they helped to complete a peace mandala that we had started earlier in the day, expressing their wishes for peace in beautiful colors. We also gave everyone a white ribbon with the words May peace prevail on Earth, which they could wear if they wished.
We opened the ceremony by reading the message from Masami Saionji, and then Sergio Calderón performed a Mayan ceremony, opening the four directions of the cosmos with the sounds of drums, rattles, and shells, and asking permission from the guardians of each direction. Next, we held a minute of silence, during which we connected our consciousness with the consciousness of the entire planet, silencing our thoughts and opening our hearts.
The prayers for peace flowed with great emotion and great harmony, first with Pablo Ozsnaya, a Catholic priest, who gave us a message of peace. Then, Felipe Morales delivered a Mormon prayer, moving us with his blessing and his words. Next, our brothers from Brahma Kumaris led us in a meditation of peace, illuminating our being and leaving us with a feeling of great joy and great harmony.
Ali Zolsagari, a Shiite Muslim leader, recited a prayer from the Holy Quran, and we received these sacred words while kneeling and facing Mecca. María Bello offered the power and harmony of the Buddhist Lotus Sutra, and then the sisters of the Sufi order Nur Ashki Jerrahi performed Sufi songs, moving many participants to tears with the melody of their voices. Finally, from the Toltec tradition came Grandma Petrona, who gave us her prayer dedicated to the Earth and the Virgin of Guadalupe, patroness of our country.
We ended this part of the program by performing a prayer without words performed with deep, peaceful breathing. I could feel a wonderful light vibration spread to all corners of our country and the Earth. Participants’ voices resonated in tones of peace, and the movement of their hands resembled a dance of infinite love.
With our hearts full of light, we started our flag ceremony, praying for peace in each country. Adults and children all participated, creating a ‘mandala of infinite colors’ as they placed the flags of the world in concentric circles surrounding the candles at the center. Then, to the rhythm of the drums, we began dancing in a circle, holding hands and sharing a moment of immense joy and brotherhood that we sealed with the phrase: May peace prevail on Earth.
My infinite gratitude to each and every one of those who shared in this day, in Mexico and throughout the world, for we were brothers in the infinite power of love and peace.
A video of the SOPP in Mexico can be viewed online here:
Part 1: http://youtu.be/nEaikvUyUlo
Part 2: http://youtu.be/I4GI_b_cCyk