Liturgy of nonviolence

one. Bridegroom of poverty, our brother Francis, follower of Jesus and a friend of creation:many. Stand Here beside us.one. Apostle of nonviolence, Gandhi the Mahatma, reproach to the churches:many. Stand Here beside us.one. John XXIII, Pope and friend to the poor, who longed for the unity of all people:many. Stand Here beside us.one. Peacemakers in the world, Dag Hammarskjold, Desmond Tutu, and Mohammed ElBaradei, called children of God:many. Stand Here beside us.one. Banker to poor, Muhammad Yunus, and worker for justice and reconciliation, Glenda Wildschut:many. Stand Here beside us.one. Gautama the Buddha and Mother Theresa, fountains of compassion:many. Stand Here beside us.one. Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass, and all fighters for freedom:many. Stand Here beside us.one. Students of the earth, Charles Darwin, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and Margaret Mead, voyagers in the past and in the future:many. Stand Here beside us.one. Children of the Synagogue, Albert Einstein, Karl Marx, and Sigmund Freud, divers in the sea of humanity:many. Stand Here beside us.one. Confessors in chains, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Berrigan Brothers, war resisters:many. Stand Here beside us.one. Confessor in Africa, Augustine of Hippo, city-planner for God's people:many. Stand Here beside us.one. Innocents of Wounded Knee, Hiroshima, My Lai, and Haditha; God's wheat ground in the mill of war:many. Stand Here beside us.one. Martyrs of Africa; Perpetua, mother; Felecity, slave; and all your companions:many. Stand Here beside us.one. Martyrs in Latin America, Camillo Torres and Oscar Romero, priests and revolutionaries:many. Stand Here beside us.one. Blessed Damian and Mother Alice, Moloka'i saints, friends of the outcast:many. Stand Here beside us.one. Unwed mother, Blessed Mary, fair well-spring of our liberation:many. Stand Here beside us.one. Our leader and Lord, Jesus , Son of God, bright cornerstone of our unity in a new Spirit:many. Stand Here beside us.