By Dubravka Cortese | Correspondent

In solidarity with the people of Paris, following the terrorist attacks that left the death toll at 129, the parish family of St. Joan of Arc in Marlton started their Prayer Service for Paris with a “procession of light in honor of Paris, the City of Light.”

Parishioners and clergy processed through the church carrying candles they then used to light a table of candles arranged in front of the altar. The procession was accompanied by the singing of the Taize Chant, from the ecumenical monastic order in Burgundy, France.

“Bring healing to those suffering from the violence,” began the Prayer for Peace, read by parishioner Jen Newton. “Bring comfort to those mourning the dead.” The prayer was offered for numerous nations currently dealing with terrorism.

Moments of silence punctuated the prayer service, as more than 100 attendees quietly offered their own prayers for victims of terrorism and violence. The Prayer Service for Paris and for an End to World Terrorism was held immediately following the parish’s adoration hour Nov. 19.

“It isn’t supposed to be this way,” is how Msgr. Richard LaVerghetta, pastor of St. Joan of Arc, began his homily. “People should be able to go out with their family and friends to a dinner and not have to worry about getting shot or being blown up. People shouldn’t have to go to a concert and worry that somehow it will end up in a blood bath. People shouldn’t have to go to a soccer game and fear for their lives. It shouldn’t be that way.”

“You feel the horror and the disbelief,” Father LaVerghetta said. “And then you start to feel one with the people. We were all one with the Parisians.”

He went to reflect on the stories of people helping each other through the chaos. “Remarkable courage, remarkable bravery, that’s where the spirt of God is at work. Not in the violence, not in the hatred, not in the killing. That’s not any kind of work from God. God is in those who reach out to comfort, to help, to save, who put their own lives at risk for others. That’s where God is. That’s the God of life.”

“No good religion ever wants the diminishment of human life in any way, in any way,” Msgr. LaVerghetta said. “We are here tonight to pray for the courage to live the way God wants us to live.”

This is the fifth time in three years the parish family of St. Joan of Arc has held prayer services following tragic events in the world, most recently following the race-related shooting in a South Carolina church in June.

The service “gave us an opportunity to reach out to our brothers and sisters in France, and throughout the world,” said Effie Murphy, a parishioner who attended the service with her husband, Deacon Tom Murphy. “It also gave us an opportunity to be together, to pray together, to know that we are not alone in our anger, our grief, our sorrow.”

Father Jorge Bedoya spoke for all when he concluded the prayer service with, “Oh Lord, we place our brothers and sisters in France and throughout the world, who are suffering, into your tender loving care.”

Elsewhere in the Diocese, other parishes remembered the attacks in Paris in intercessions during the Prayers of the Faithful. St. Paul’s Parish, Princeton, lit a candle in front of a French flag that was placed in front of the altar in memory of the victims.