On the occasion of World Interfaith Harmony Week 2025, we wish to share with you the basis of what is common to us and also what is most essential to our faith and practice: the Two Commandments of love: LOVE OF GOD AND LOVE OF NEIGHBOURS.   This initiative was an answer to the 2007 letter of 138 Muslim leaders to Pope Benedict XVI titled " A COMMON WORD BETWEEN US AND YOU."     We in Silsilah welcomed this initiative since the beginning and we presented it in Zamboanga City and on the national level supported by the Republic Act 10525 from President Nonoy Aquino that states, "An act declaring the First week of February in every year as World Interfaith Harmony Week (WIHW) in the entire country and maintaining its observance of the different Government Agencies".   The theme of this year is "CELEBRATING THE CALL TO BUILD HARMONY AND PEACE WITH ALL PEOPLE OF SINCERE HEARTS.”   We are called to tell those who want to divide us that we are brothers and sisters, even if we belong to different religions.   Indeed, we are invited to build the "Human Fraternity" .   The Catholic Church this year celebrates a special year called Jubilee Year, or Holy Year, and the message is to be " PILGRIMS OF HOPE."   We believe that also the Muslim Umma can join the Catholic friends in the same aspiration to be pilgrims of hope in the place where they are.   We are convinced that the chain effect of the letter of the 138 Muslim scholars will help all to recall Nostra Aetate, a historical document of Vatican II that opened the door to dialogue among Catholics with all people of different religions. In a special declaration about the Muslim-Christian relation.   "The basis for this peace and understanding already exists. It is part of the very foundational principles of both faiths: love of the One God, and love of the neighbor. These principles are found over and over again in the sacred texts of Islam and Christianity. The Unity of God, the necessity of love for Him, and the necessity of love of the neighbors is thus the common ground between Islam and Christianity".  (A Common Word Between Us And You)   Let us be together, Christians and Muslims of Zamboanga City as models of dialogue and peace in our society.

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