FAUSTO GOMEZ OP
As human beings, as citizens of a nation and of the world, as Christians, our humanity and our faith commit us to build peace: to have peace in our personal life and to promote social peace in our troubled world. We all desire peace, St. Augustine says, and therefore, St. Thomas adds, “we desire to obtain what we desire”: peace through continuing peacemaking by peaceful means.
In human perspective, all men and women of good will 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 from 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. “The believers of all religions are called to “to work together for the common good and the promotion of the poor” (Pope Francis, FT).
Hereafter is, my SIMPLE RECIPE FOR PEACEMAKING:
- 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 manifest 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.
- Be at Peace with Your Immediate Family and Community
As love of neighbour is practiced in the first place with the most proximate neighbours, 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.
- 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 Ppeacemakers: 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. For the disciples of Jesus, the world is their parish.
With all men and women of good will, I have to promote peace peacefully. I have to promote with others life, 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. Above all, peaceful love.
No to war; and yes, to peace, above all, “the peace of the Risen Christ” (Leo XIV). No to the destruction of life: of unborn children, sick elderly and criminals; and yes, to life from the moment of conception to natural death. No to an “eye for an eye” “justice”; and yes, to compassionate justice/love. No to deterrence “as a path to world peace” (Pope Francis, FT); no, to weapon-ice nations and world; and yes, to the alleviation of poverty and misery in a rich world where millions die of hunger and unlove. While some – or nor so few – live it up selfishly and irresponsibly wasting resources, over-consuming and throwing away what others need to survive.
- Be at Peace with 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, 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). Exiling God, the Creator from his creation is exiling ourselves
- Share Something with the Poor
I cannot love God without loving the neighbour (cf. I Jn 4:7-21). I cannot love all neighbours without loving the poor neighbour 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: the poor. Our humanity and our faith call us to care in a principal way with the needy and marginalized in the world. We have to listen to the cry of the poor, not only to the cry of creation.
Let us never forget that Christ is in a special way in the poor persons: “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.
- Pray for Peace
Inner peace and outer peace are gifts of God that urge us to cooperate with these graces. Hence, and knowing our weaknesses, 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 neighbour is perfected, and likewise peace as effect of love, and charity, or God’s love in our hearts.
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, the Mother of Christ and our Mother, and all the angels and saints, to help us be committed to peace, to peacemaking by peaceful means: “There is no way to peace; peace is the way (Gandhi).
The task of peace is peacemaking! God’s gift of peace is like a seed that must produce progressively fruits of truth, justice, freedom, love and compassion, and the respect and promotion of life.
It is easy to speak or write on the Gospel of Peace. It is very easy to denounce injustice, violence and selfishness. It is not hard to tell others – to tell you – to opt for justice, peace and the poor.
My excellent professor of Christian Social Ethics, Ricardo Alberdi used to tell us, after strongly denouncing injustice and convincingly proclaiming justice: “We are all members of the Church of Christ. Somehow, she is still partly caught up in the web of capitalism; and so are many of her members. And so are we. And so am I! Therefore, I advise you to begin your teaching and preaching on justice – or on peace – thus: ‘I am a sinner; still, I tell you, not in my name but in the name of Jesus: Be just; be a peacemaker.”
And to close! 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).
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