FAUSTO GOMEZ OP
As human beings, as citizens of a nation and of the world, as Christians, our humanity and our faith commits us to build peace: to have peace in our personal life and to promote social peace in our troubled world. We all desire peace, and therefore, St. Thomas adds, “we desire to obtain what we desire.” The task of peace means continuing peacemaking through peaceful means.
In human perspective, all men and women of goodwill work for peace. The believers of all religions are called to beartisans of peace, “to work together for the common good and the promotion of the poor” (Pope Francis).
In Christian perspective, peace is a gift of God and a task for his children. It is a grace of God through Jesus Christ, and a responsibility for all the disciples of Jesus. Peace is one of the Beatitudes and a fruit of the Holy Spirit.
Thereafter, a summary of the previous columns on peace and peacemaking in our troubled world. Hereafter is my simple recipe for peacemaking.
1. BE AT PEACE WITH YOURSELF AND WITH GOD
To be at peace with others, I have to be at peace with myself: Peace begins within our hearts (St. Paul VI). Without interior peace, I cannot give peace to others as a Christian is asked to do (cf. Lk 10:5-6). To attain inner peace, the disordered appetites, the bad tendencies, the vices must be pacified. As the lyrics of the well-known song put it, let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.
To be at peace with myself, I – a sinner – need to be at peace with God, for sin is division, brokenness, darkness: I need to repent and be forgiven by the good Lord. I have to be at peace with Christ: “Since we think of Christ as our peace, we may call ourselves true Christians only if our lives express Christ by our own peace” (Gregory of Nyssa).
I recall the words of St. Seraphim: Acquire inner peace and thousands around you will find liberation.
2. BE AT PEACE WITH YOUR IMMEDIATE FAMILY AND COMMUNITY
As love of neighbor is practiced in the first place with the most proximate neighbors, so also social peace must be lived, in the first place, by being at peace with the members of my family, my community, my professional association.
To be a peacemaker as a member of the community, I have to be respectful, honest, forgiving, patient, non-violent in thought, words and deeds. I have to be dialogical, not dogmatic; democratic, not authoritarian; open, not closed within myself.
3. IN YOUR COMMUNITIES, BE A BUILDER OF PEACE
St. Paul advises us: “Do all you can to live at peace with everyone” (Rom 12:18).
Method of peacemakers: from within to without; from the small community to the large community; from nation to region, to world; from parish to diocese, to universal Church.
With all men and women of goodwill, I have to promote peace peacefully. I have to promote with others justice, equal human rights, integral development and the integrity of creation. I have to journey by the paths of justice and solidarity, by the paths of virtues.
4. BE AT PEACE WITH THE WHOLE CREATION
The human person is a microcosm, that is, a unique individual, a rational and free being. He/she is also a member of the macrocosm, that is, a creature of the universe. A creature of God, he is co-creator with God and under God.
As creatures of the universe, all human beings ought to respect and improve nature and not to exploit it irresponsibly and dictatorially. I remember the significant words of Venerable Fulton Sheen: Moral garbage is the cause of ecological garbage.
Concerned women and men, and believers in a particular way, must spread out ecological awareness (detached from narrowing ideologies), ecological responsibility, and work together for a share by all persons and peoples of the common heritage that is the earth, the home of all.
To be at peace with creation, we also need to be at peace with God: If man is not at peace with God, neither the earth is at peace (St. John Paul II).
5. WE SHARE SOMETHING WITH THE POOR
I cannot love God without loving the neighbor (cf. I Jn 4:7-20). I cannot love all neighbors without loving the poor neighbor in a special way (cf. Mt 25: 31-36).
There is a loud voice in our world calling our attention to care especially for the living species threatened to disappear. As Leonardo Boff reminds us, the most threatened species are the poor. Our humanity and our faith call us to care in a principal way with them for them.
Let us never forget that Christ is – in a special way – this and that poor person: “For I was hungry and you gave me food… Just as you did to one of the least of my brothers, you did it to me” (Mt 25:35 and 40). I remember the significant words of the Canadian bishops: Let us live simply so that others may simply live.
6. WE PRAY FOR PEACE
Inner peace and outer peace are gifts of God that urge us to cooperate with them. Hence – knowing our weakness – we pray for peace: Prayer gives joy to the spirit, peace to the heart (St. John Chrysostom).
Prayer, meditation and contemplation – accompanied by repentance and compassion – are effective instruments to deepen and strengthen inner peace. Through genuine prayer, communion with God and neighbor is perfected, and likewise peace as effect of love of God and of all neighbors, especially of the poor of the earths.
Christians pray for peace in the Eucharistic Celebration and offer each other a sign of peace. After Jesus, who makes himself the Bread of Life for us, we are urged to be broken and shared with others. In The Prayer, we ask the Lord to give us “our daily bread,” meaning bread for us and for all, especially for those among our brothers and sisters who have no bread. We ask Mary and all the saints to help us be committed to peace, to peacemaking.
As united pilgrims on the way of life, as a human family and as God’s family, let us preach convincingly the Gospel of Justice, Love and Peace. I remember the words of the prophet Isaiah:
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of one who brings good news, who heralds peace, brings happiness, proclaims salvation and tells Zion: ‘Your God is king’ (Is 52:7).
Follow
