World AIDS Day

(Delayed posting that I've been meaning to write for over a week...) For spirituality night last week, we as a community attended an interfaith prayer service for World AIDS Day, which was on Thurs., Dec. 1. Interfaith services truly inspire me. It was a beautiful demonstration of how compassion, among so many other things, is a common thread among world religions. The atmosphere was somber and powerful, with just about 40 people spread in the dimly lit St. Monica's Church.

Photo of a random wedding I found online to show the inside of St. Monica's.

The service was comprised of meditative singing in the tradition of Taizé Prayer, a form of prayer that originated with an ecumenical monastic order in Taizé, France. My favorite Sunday evening Mass at Georgetown often featured post-Communion Taizé meditations, so I was already familiar with the melodies and words, but I've never experienced an entire prayer service with these meditations. Apart from being a powerful communal experience of music, listening to these short, repetitive songs can also be a great way to center yourself as you begin personal prayer. Here are a few of my favorites: Ubi Caritas (Where Charity and Love Prevail), Laudate Dominum (Sing Praise and Bless the Lord), Nada Te Turbe (Nothing Can Trouble). Ignatius, a big fan of repetitio, would probably endorse this form of prayer.

In between each song, a different religious leader reflected prayerfully on a different aspect of the reality of AIDS in our world...for those who have died, hope for the cure, women affected, minorities affected, LGBTQ community, caring for those in need, orphans of HIV/AIDS. Simply living in D.C. exposed me to one perspective of the reality of HIV/AIDS (in the District, 3 percent of adults are infected with HIV, and another 3 percent are infected but don't know it), and working with a research team at Whitman Walker AIDS clinic for a year helped educate me a little bit more. Still, it was shocking to hear the congregation speak so many names during the intercessions of people in their lives affected by AIDS.

On one hand, I am grateful that AIDS is an easy thing for me to forget about on a day-to-day basis. Yet my ignorance is still embarrassing, since it has such a global and tragic impact in millions of lives daily. I recognize that I cannot be involved in the fight against every global injustice; but the injustice of HIV infection interacting with racial and socioeconomic disparity is something I hope to delve more deeply into in medical school.