At St. John the Evangelist-Our Lady of Peace Church, a church with minimalist trappings by the ground
floor of a medium-rise glass building, it was no coincidence that our prayers centered on the sorrowful
meeting of Jesus and Mary, because on each side of the walls hang two huge soothing tapestries. The
one to the left depicts a shepherd holding his staff looking toward an optimistic direction while the one
to the right is that of a stooped young man receiving a blessing.
When His then Holiness Pope, now Saint John Paul II, addressed the UN General Assembly in 1995, he
extended his blessings to the nearby Holy Family Church. Also significantly etched on the wall is a
commemorative marker of the 1965 visit of Pope Paul VI along with representatives from Catholic,
Protestant and Jewish organizations. In the spirit of ecumenism, the leaders collectively made an
“appeal for peace” and Holy Family responded by making its church the “voice of the poor, disinherited,
the suffering, those who long for justice, the dignity of life, for well-being and for progress.” I reflected
on how these messages could fill one’s soul with burning expectations in humanity’s shared hope for
lasting peace. Of the sites we visited, I will most likely frequent this because of its peculiarity and the
tranquil Mary’s garden, which on that pleasant spring day was blushing with graceful blooms being
readied for Easter. In front of the multi-colored ceramic Stations of the Cross, where portraits of modern
day Saints Padre Pio, Mother Teresa and John Paul II are mounted, we offered prayers for victims of wars.