About 1,000 people attended an interfaith meeting in Ho Chi Minh City on Saturday, 27 October 2012.

The gathering, known as “Together Ease Miseries”,  included clergy, and laypeople representing the Baha’i faith, Buddhism, Catholicism, Islam, Protestantism and indigenous faiths such as Cao Dai, Hoa Hao and Minh Ly Thanh Hoi.  People shared their personal experience of the positive power of prayer, sang hymns and recited poems on religion.

Vo Ngoc Hong Phuc, a Baha’i, told the gathering: “If we are surrounded by serious difficulties and miseries, we should pray to God who always saves us.

”Cao Dai follower Le Nhu Hung agreed. “As people of religion, we must rely on God’s grace to relieve our miseries.”

Muslim Imam Trinh Ngoc Dat urged attendees to visit and provide material and spiritual support for victims of natural disasters, elderly people without relatives, patients and the marginalized. 

Minh Tue, a Budhist monk, said the meeting raised awareness of religious faith that is strength helping people to release their miseries among people.  He said local followers live in harmony and work together to provide health care for poor people in the city.

Father Francis Xavier Bao Loc, head of the Interfaith Dialogue Ministry committee, said the meeting aimed to promote dialogue and cooperation among local followers for the common good.

The event also marked the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council and what would have been the 100th birthday of Han Mac Tu, a Catholic poet who suffered from leprosy and composed many great Catholic poems. He died in 1940.

With candles in hand, attendees closed the meeting with prayers for suffering people and the Prayer of Peace hymn by St. Francis Assisi. 

Credit:  http://www.ucanews.com/2012/10/30/faithful-share-their-stories-of-the-power-of-prayer/ 

Source: ucanews.com reporter

Vietnam, October 30, 2012