While the world is still struck and the people of Sri Lanka are tightening to mourn the victims of the terrible Easter attack, Suchith Abeyewickreme, a young activist for peace and co-founder of an inter-religious network of young people, has written a message to all the Focolare members in the world. What can we do for the people of Sri Lanka, after the horror they have experienced in the wake of the terrorist attacks last Easter? Looking at those horrible images, we ask ourselves how often we have experienced that sense of impotence towards the ongoing violence, or the impossibility to relieve the pain of those who mourn their dead. Yet there is a path: ” It challenges us to believe in God’s love and pray with faith that new hope will be reborn again and the courage to proceed on the way to peace and unity”, as the president of the Focolare Movement, Maria Voce, wrote to Suchith Abeyewickreme, a sri lankan young leader of a youth inter-religious network. On April 25, he wrote a message to all the members of the Focolare Movement in the world. We publish the whole message below: Dear Friends from Focolare, I write to you as we here, in Sri Lanka are mourning the loss of our people due to the recent attacks on Easter Sunday in our beautiful Island. We are shocked, saddened and shaken up by these unprecedented events. Our first priority has been to care and support the victims and their families. We are trying to support each other across Communities in these efforts. Following the attacks with immediate response many stepped out to donate blood, help victims and donate relief and medical supplies. We are now in the process of supporting each other in our farewells to those who we have lost. We stand together at this time understanding that these acts of terrorism aim to cause havoc and spread fear, suspicion and divisiveness through our communities. By standing together Sri Lankans of Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Islamic and other various spiritual and cultural backgrounds, are saying to those who impose terror upon us that we will not let them succeed in their aims. We understand that in such attacks, what follows the physical destructions and death is fear, suspicion, hate and divisiveness. While there has been some reactive forces at work lashing out with hatred, majority of the Sri Lankans have been responsible for showing empathy and care towards one another. We are working hard to ensure that these acts by few extremists do not end up being used to discriminate and alienate innocent people or entire communities. These events occurred when we in Sri Lanka were about to commemorate the 10 years since the end of the 26 year long armed conflict on the 18th of May, 2019. As a society we had many wounds yet to be healed from past experiences, but we are now wounded again. But I believe that the Sri Lankan people are strong and resilient, we will work together to heal ourselves and our society over time. It is at this difficult time we must practice the virtues of compassion, love, empathy, responsibility and peace that our spiritual teachings guide us towards. We must rise above the divisiveness to acknowledge our interconnectedness and shared humanity. Our main appeal to you is not for donations. Our appeal is for your time and commitment. Time and commitment to strengthen your work in your own communities to build bridges of understanding across divides, to intensify moderate voices and to stand for non-violence. Around the world there is a lot of polarization, discriminations, hate and violence that offer ideal breeding grounds for violent extremism. We must work together to be the sensitive, empathic and responsible leaders this world needs to heal its wounds. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” Thank you for your solidarity at this difficult time. May you be well, happy and peaceful. Thank you,

Suchith Suchith Abeyewickreme Peace Activist, Co-Founder – Interfaith Colombo and Interfaith Youth Network Global Council Trustee, United Religions Initiative