In different moments of it’s history Arantzazu has been a reference of hope, peace or cultural renovation. The question that the sanctuary asks itself now at the beginning of the 21st century is what unique contribution can Arantzazu make no to the world that we live in? The answer to this question can be found in the synthesis of two concepts: ethics and Asis. From Arantzazu and from Baketik we would like to nurture the inter-religious dialogue initiated in Asis with the following intuition: the promotion of ethics as a lay and inter-religious spirituality, and as a meeting point for way of life shared between different societies and different peoples.

Upon the founding rock of the Sanctuary, all of the values that Arantzazu represents can be summarised in one idea – ethics: the answer that springs from an awareness of the demands imposed by respect for human dignity, the primacy of the individual, the commitment to human dignity above and beyond all else, the main project of the human being. The deep understanding of its meaning elevated, its sublimation, converts ethics into a pre-religious and pre-ideological spirituality which, from this basis, respects and permits the free choice of belief, faith and path, of each person and each culture.

Arantzazu has a will to connect with Asis, to create a physical and symbolical meeting point with that city and all that it represents. Apart from being the birthplace of Saint Francis, and a Franciscan reference point, this city has also projected itself as the world capital for inter-religious dialogue since 1986. In this sense it represents an extremely important inter-religious advance. Asis opens up dialogue. The next step is for this dialogue to find solid meeting points.

In the world we debate between the “crash” and the “alliance” of civilizations. In our neighbourhoods we find ourselves faced with the phenomenon of immigration and of other cultures, identities, religions and customs. At the global and local levels, what is at stake is shared living, respect for identity, human rights, and peace. The obstacle to achieving this lies in inexperience, prejudice, ignorance and the creation of distance towards those we consider to be “other”.

What may enable us to overcome these obstacles is knowledge, connection with, opening up to and respect towards “others”. One way to embrace difference and understand the “other” could be by getting to know the ways in which each religion and each culture has dreamed, worried, prayed and fought for peace from the very depths of its identity. We can familiarize ourselves with all that through the written testimonies provided in the poems, prayers and supplications of different cultures and religions.

This is the aspiration of this project: to understand the world and its complexities from the sublimation that different cultures have given to peace, human rights and human dignity. To encourage listening and empathy from this place, towards those who are not like us. All of this we do through the edition and wide distribution of a book that brings together intercultural and interreligious prayers for peace. We are working around the necessity to find references which identify a meeting point among believers and non-believers in God, and believers of different faiths, who respect their respective identities. We are reflecting on this aspect of our work with particular emphasis, and we move forward with the intuition that with the compass of ethics we can come closer to this meeting point.

So, we have developed a proposal of inter-religious and intercultural meeting points based on four basic learning steps. This proposal is accompanied by 40 universal texts and 40 prayers for peace from various world cultures and religions. It has been edited into 6 languages. We have sent this material to all the schools in the Basque Country along with a teaching unit and we are presenting it internationally in the forums that work towards understanding between religions, cultures and civilizations.

Intercultural and denominational meeting points.
A proposition and 80 prayers and texts for peace