Being Present

Today I was struck by the absolute beauty of Lake Michigan. I was on my way to our weekly interfaith meeting, but just had to stop and stand for a minute and watch the waves crash against the rocks along the lakeshore. The fierce wind caused the waves to collide with the rocks so that the water rushed up in giant swells so that the mist almost reached the walkway I stood on. As I started thinking about the meeting I was reminded of how much I truly love learning prayers from other faith traditions. I thought about a book by Thich Nat Hanh I had read and how he reminds us to stop and be present to the moment. I took a movement to simply breath in the fresh air and thought, “I am breathing in. I am breathing out. I am present to this moment. Thank you God for this moment.” Being caught up in the beauty of the lake I said a simple prayer, and was able to center myself before the meeting. I think that we can all learn from other traditions, and love when I remember to let other traditions prayers help me to take time to experience the present and thank God for the wonderful world he created.  


- Elaina Jo

Prayers for Peace

Yay Interfaith! This past Wednesday Loyola University Chicago Interfaith Ministry had its first event. It was the International Day of Peace, which made it the perfect day to show the unity of interfaith ministry. Although everything was planned no one can plan for mother nature, and for the first half of our event I felt like she was fighting us. We set up a table in front of the Information Commons and had a grand plan to have interfaith trivia and a game show wheel to spin, but all too quickly it became clear that the wind whipping from the lake was not going to allow that to happen. We had to abandon the game, but we still got to spread our message. We decided to devote our attention to the international day of peace. We had a poster with a giant peace sign on it, and had students write prayers for peace on ribbons and tape them to the sign. It was really beautiful to see the sign fill up as the afternoon went on. It became increasingly colorful, and knowing that each one of those ribbons represented a person praying for peace made it worth all the struggles we had with the wind. It was also encouraging to see how many people stopped at our table and were willing to write a prayer and listen to us talk about interfaith ministry. I think that it was a fantastic way to start of our events at Loyola, and I’m so glad that we made our presence known through a call for peace and prayer. 

- Elaina Jo

9/11 & Our Prayer for Peace

This past Sunday Loyola had a beautiful 9/11 Vigil that highlighted the interfaith nature of our campus. I was a member of the choir for the event so I knew what was going to happen, but that knowledge did not prepare me for the real experience of the vigil. I was surprised that as the event unfolded I became moved by the speakers, prayers, and the glowing candles stretching from the from the west end of the quad to the IC. It was beautiful to see all the candles lighting up the quad, each light representing a person unified in our prayer for peace. There were prayers said by Catholic, Jewish, Hindu, and Muslim students. It made me proud to go to a university where our commemoration of 9/11 was not marked not just by dramatic patriotism but also with prayer. Our prayer for peace, spoken by diverse faith traditions, makes us stronger by seeing our common desire for peace. In the days since the vigil I have reflected on how to continue that prayer for peace, personally and as a community. I hope that other people will not only pray for peace, but remember the interfaith nature of the prayer. It is always hard to start a program from the ground up, but I know that it is worth the struggle. So if you’re reading this please like us on facebook (Loyola University Chicago Intefaith Ministry) and follow us on twitter @lucinterfaith – we need other people to keep the prayer for peace alive and interfaith programming flourishing!

- Elaina Jo

Our Interfaith Blog Begins!

Hi! My name is Elaina Jo and this year I am interning for Loyola University Chicago Interfaith Ministry. I want to share my work, discoveries, and personal story so that other people might be inspired learn more about interfaith initiatives. Although I am Catholic, I have been drawn to other faith traditions through out my life. I am a religious studies major and through my classes I began to learn about other faith traditions, but also began to integrate new beliefs from these traditions into my own spirituality. Things from Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Buddhism all spoke to my heart and inspired me to delve deeper into my personal understanding of religion and my experience of it. Hopefully this year I can work on letting more people experience faith traditions outside their own, and further develop an interfaith community on our campus. I'm excited to share my work through this blog and hopefully bring other voices to our blog too!