Laurence Rosania
Director of Liturgy and Music
Since 2012, the College of the Holy Cross has honored its many faith traditions with a joyous service of readings, music, and warm celebration. That first service established a rich tapestry of sacred texts and meaningful ritual that has endured and again shapes our 11th Annual MultiFaith Community Prayer on Tuesday, January 21, 2025 in Mary Chapel.
Each year this service also marks the first day of classes for Spring Semester, beginning the new year in a spirit of sharing, hospitality, and fellowship. All in the Holy Cross community are encouraged to attend, regardless of faith or belief – all are truly welcome.
Integral to the celebration are our neighbors in faith in the larger Worcester community, and many have returned throughout the years to strengthen the bonds of friendship and our shared vision of mutual support and respect. Among others we have welcomed have been the Boundless Way Zen Temple, Islamic Society Of Greater Worcester, Worcester Hindu Community, and Congregation Beth Israel. As has been the practice since the beginning, these faith leaders from Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, and Christianity share readings from their scriptures and spiritual writings. Each reading is followed by silence to revere the profound wisdom found there, and a Tibetan singing bowl is sounded to welcome the next reading. The range of readings is as wide-ranging as the world of spirituality itself: from the Qur’an, the Bhagavad Gita, the Pali Canon and Chinese masters of Buddhism, to the Torah, the New Testament and the contemporary Vietnamese Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh.
Students of every spiritual practice are invited to attend and to participate. In the ceremony of Honoring our Traditions students come forward to light one of twelve candles in the midst of the congregation representing Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, Jainism, Unitarian Universalism, Humanism, Agnostics, Seekers and Questioners, Atheism, Protestant, Orthodox, and Catholic Christianity.
Students also lead music and sing with the choir, act as ministers of hospitality, and enliven the day with a joyful drum circle which begins the service.
Marybeth Kearns-Barrett, the Director of the Office of the College Chaplains, has led this prayer since its inception, and both President Philip Boroughs, S.J and President Vincent D. Rougeau have offered reflections.
In past years the Chaplains’ Office has provided a theme which is reflected in the service. In 2023, “If you Want Peace, Work for Justice,” and in 2024 “When the well is dry, we know the worth of water” focused on concerns for the well-being of all creation. For 2025 our theme is “Journeying Together toward a Hope-filled Future,” and we will again join voices in the moving African-American Spiritual “I’ve Got Peace Like a River.”
One of the most-anticipated parts of the day follows the service with the Reception of Food from around the World, where guests can sample tastes of specialties from India, Central America, Southeast Asia, and Greece. The conversations and connections made over these delicious international foods are part of the warm and embracing spirit that marks this day.
In September 2024 Pope Francis expressed the spirit of our multifaith celebration to an interreligious gathering at the Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta, Indonesia:
“… always look deeply, because only in this way can we find what unites despite our differences. … We could say that what lies ‘underneath,’ what runs underground, like the ‘tunnel of friendship,’ is the one root common to all religious sensitivities: the quest for an encounter with the divine, the thirst for the infinite that the Almighty has placed in our hearts, the search for a greater joy and a life stronger than any type of death, which animates the journey of our lives and impels us to step out of ourselves to encounter God. Here, let us remember that by looking deeply, grasping what flows in the depths of our lives, the desire for fullness that dwells in the depths of our hearts, we discover that we are all brothers and sisters, all pilgrims, all on our way to God, beyond what differentiates us.”
With this spirit we seek to begin 2025, Journeying Together toward a Hope-filled Future. We hope all at Holy Cross will join us in this journey, whether in person or in spirit.
Featured image courtesy of College of the Holy Cross
Leave a Reply