In preparation for Justice, Peace and Community Week (JPCW) from October 24–31, let us focus on the word “peace”.
I share with you extracts from Pope Francis’ powerful homily at Sarajevo’s Olympic Stadium on June 6, 2015: “In the context of global communications we sense an atmosphere of war. Some wish to incite and foment this atmosphere deliberately, mainly those who want conflict between different cultures and societies, and those who speculate on wars for the purpose of selling arms.
“But war means children, women and the elderly in refugee camps; it means forced displacement of peoples; it means destroyed houses, streets and factories; it means, above all, countless shattered lives…Within this atmosphere of war, like a ray of sunshine piercing the clouds, resound the words of Jesus in the Gospel: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers’…that is, those who make peace…
“The word peace echoes several times through the Scripture readings…Peace is God’s dream, his plan for humanity, for history, for all creation. And it is a plan which always meets opposition from men and from the evil one…Crafting peace is a skilled work. It requires passion, patience, experience and tenacity.
“Blessed are those who sow peace by their daily actions, their attitudes and acts of kindness, of fraternity, of dialogue, of mercy…Peace-making is a work to be carried forward each day, step-by-step, without ever growing tired…the effect of righteousness will be peace…Peace is a work of justice…not a justice proclaimed, imagined, planned… but rather a justice put into practice, lived out. The Gospel teaches us that the ultimate fulfilment of justice is love: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself’…We have the same Father in heaven…True justice, then, is doing to others what I would want them to do to me, to my people…Peace is a gift from God, not in the magical sense, but because with his Spirit he can imprint these attitudes in our hearts and in our flesh, and can make us true instruments of his peace.”
In Part 1 of this series, which was published in this space on September 27, Mikkel Trestrail focused on the term “community”. He highlighted the fact that “JPCW is important to us because ‘community’ is an inherent part of our nature as human persons; it is also how we participate in the image and likeness of the Blessed Trinity. Focusing on this issue is also important because of the need for us to strengthen community life at a time when communities are facing so many challenges.”
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In this article, Mikkel focuses on how we can help to rebuild peaceful community life in our land:
“What is peace? ‘Peace is much more than the simple absence of war; it represents the fullness of life (cf. Mal 2:5). Far from being the work of human hands, it is one of the greatest gifts that God offers to all men and women, and it involves obedience to the divine plan’ (Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 489).
“A clear and beautiful illustration of this vision of peace comes from Isaiah 11:6-9. Here the author describes the experience of being on God’s holy mountain. On that mountain, “The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den. They will not hurt or destroy on my entire holy mountain.”
“The community on God’s holy mountain respects differences, treats its members equally, and lives in harmony. This is the type of peace we are called to promote, a peace that is not only an absence of violence, but one that comprises conditions that allow for right relationships and harmony to prevail. We envision a world where people do not have to experience inequality, oppression, exploitation, discrimination, or division. God’s holy mountain can be a reality, but it takes hard work and requires on-going conversion.
“Let us take time during JPCW to reflect on the biblical vision of peace, and strive to become God’s instruments of peace in our world today. How do we move from the biblical blueprint to actually building a culture of peace in this world? For this answer, look out for Part 3 in this series.”
Let us strive to build peace in our homes, communities, in the nation and in the world.
