September 21, World Peace Day
Print Friendly Version| On the Road to Peace by John Dear S.J. | Tuesday, September 16, 2008 |
| Vol. 3, No. 2 |
In 2001, the U.N. General Assembly declared Sept. 21 "International Day of Peace." The declaration called for "a day of global ceasefire and nonviolence," for everyone to promote education and awareness of peace. Of course, this day has been ignored by the U.S. government and mainstream media, but for followers of the nonviolent Jesus, such a day gets at the heart of the spiritual life. For us, every day is World Peace Day.
We keep in mind that when Jesus rose from the dead, his first words to his community were "Peace be with you." We welcome that first gift of resurrection and stake our lives on it. Because we follow the peacemaking Jesus, we try to live in peace with everyone, with all of creation, with the God of peace.
So on Sept. 21, World Peace Day, we join with people around the globe who long for a new world of peace. We reclaim our special calling to be instruments of Christ's peace, ambassadors of reconciliation, blessed peacemakers in a world of war. Never was it so important to take this calling seriously.
That means, we try to make peace with ourselves. To make peace with our spouses, children and relatives. To make peace with our neighbors. To make peace with everyone in the church. To make peace with all creatures and all of creation. To make peace with our enemies, even to love them, as Jesus commanded in the Sermon on the Mount.
Some say it's just too hard to be peaceful, to make peace, but I think this is the beginning of the spiritual life. That's how the journey starts. Peacemaking is hard. That's why we have our wonderful sacraments, our Gospel, our saints, our community, one another -- to help each other become more and more prayerful, more and more nonviolent, more and more the disarming presence of the peacemaking Christ in our world.
It's because we so quickly give up the work of peace that today we have some 35 wars being waged, tens of thousands of nuclear weapons, billions of people suffering in poverty, 900 million people starving to death and global warming threatening us all.
It's because we give in to despair and apathy that the U.S. war on Iraq and Afghanistan goes on. This week, a new study reports that more than 1.2 million Iraqis have been killed by the United States military since March 2003 (See: http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq/iraqdeaths.html). A few weeks ago, we blew up dozens of children in Afghanistan. The killings go on, while the media debates "lipstick on a pig."
World Peace Day reminds us that peace is the center of our prayer, our hearts, our relationships, our work, our lives. It urges us to do something new for peace -- no matter how small or insignificant it may seem in the grand scheme of things.
The saints show us that every one of us can make a difference. We can harbor the peace of Christ in our hearts. We can be a healing presence to our families and neighbors. We can support the grassroots movements for peace and justice, such as Pax Christi USA and the Catholic Worker. We can point the way forward from conflict, division, violence and war to God's reign of peace and nonviolence. We can continue to call for an end to the U.S. wars on Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan; for an end to executions and nuclear weapons; for an end to corporate greed and big oil and all the policies that favor the super rich and crush the world's poor.
"Peace I leave you, my peace I give you," Jesus told his friends the night before he was killed. This World Peace Day, as we join the global call for a new world of peace, we once again accept Jesus' gift of peace and carry on his nonviolent resistance to war and empire through his way, truth and life of nonviolent love. As we do, we sow the seeds of hope for a disarmed world.
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John Dear's autobiography, "A Persistent Peace" (Loyola Press) is now available at www.amazon.com. Next week, he will embark on a 10-week national book tour across the country to speak about peace, nonviolence and Jesus. For details, see: www.fatherjohndear.org.
"Peace I leave you, my peace
"Peace I leave you, my peace I give you," Jesus told his friends
It would seem that Christ is not referring to “non violence� as the world defines peace.
Considering that he gave this pledge of peace knowing that Jerusalem would be thrown into a war with Rome that would force its inhabitance to flee for their life, it would follow that this peace was not the same as cessation of warfare.
Also considering that he gave this pledge of peace to his friends knowing that many would face persecution and the violent death of martyrdom, it would follow that this peace was not the same as avoiding violence or injustice.
If Christ’s peace can exist in the midst of violence and injustice, it would seem that simply avoiding violence is not the same thing as having the peace of Christ.
Don_guyus and all here, May
Don_guyus and all here, May we live with the Peace of Christ.
"And now, as I am about to leave you, I would speak words of comfort. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I make these gifts not as the world gives--by measure--I give each of you all you will receive. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful. I have overcome the world, and in me you shall all triumph through faith. I have warned you that the Son of Man will be killed, but I assure you I will come back before I go to the Father, even though it be for only a little while. And after I have ascended to the Father, I will surely send the new teacher to be with you and to abide in your very hearts. And when you see all this come to pass, be not dismayed, but rather believe, inasmuch as you knew it all beforehand. I have loved you with a great affection, and I would not leave you, but it is the Father's will. My hour has come.
"Doubt not any of these truths even after you are scattered abroad by persecution and are downcast by many sorrows. When you feel that you are alone in the world, I will know of your isolation even as, when you are scattered every man to his own place, leaving the Son of Man in the hands of his enemies, you will know of mine. But I am never alone; always is the Father with me. Even at such a time I will pray for you. And all of these things have I told you that you might have peace and have it more abundantly. In this world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer; I have triumphed in the world and shown you the way to eternal joy and everlasting service."
Jesus gives peace to his fellow doers of the will of God but not on the order of the joys and satisfactions of this material world. Unbelieving materialists and fatalists can hope to enjoy only two kinds of peace and soul comfort: Either they must be stoics, with steadfast resolution determined to face the inevitable and to endure the worst; or they must be optimists, ever indulging that hope which springs eternal in the human breast, vainly longing for a peace which never really comes.
A certain amount of both stoicism and optimism are serviceable in living a life on earth, but neither has aught to do with that superb peace which the Son of God bestows upon his brethren in the flesh. The peace which Jesus gives his children on earth is that very peace which filled his own soul when he himself lived the mortal life in the flesh and on this very world. The peace of Jesus is the joy and satisfaction of a God-knowing individual who has achieved the triumph of learning fully how to do the will of God while living the mortal life in the flesh. The peace of Jesus' mind was founded on an absolute human faith in the actuality of the divine Father's wise and sympathetic overcare. Jesus had trouble on earth, he has even been falsely called the "man of sorrows," but in and through all of these experiences he enjoyed the comfort of that confidence which ever empowered him to proceed with his life purpose in the full assurance that he was achieving the Father's will.
Jesus was determined, persistent, and thoroughly devoted to the accomplishment of his mission, but he was not an unfeeling and calloused stoic; he ever sought for the cheerful aspects of his life experiences, but he was not a blind and self-deceived optimist. The Master knew all that was to befall him, and he was unafraid. After he had bestowed this peace upon each of his followers, he could consistently say, "Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."
The peace of Jesus is, then, the peace and assurance of a son who fully believes that his career for time and eternity is safely and wholly in the care and keeping of an all-wise, all-loving, and all-powerful spirit Father. And this is, indeed, a peace which passes the understanding of mortal mind, but which can be enjoyed to the full by the believing human heart.
The more we discover how much we are Loved by God, the more we want to do God's Will
MLH Fr John, I am always
MLH
Fr John,
I am always inspired by your courage. Keep up the good work!
Dear Terry~ I don't have the
Dear Terry~ I don't have the exact quote handy but to paraphrase: to those whom much is given, much is expected. Does this answer your question?
Terry Why is it that we are
Terry
Why is it that we are always the bad guys?
I love this country and perhaps we have flaws but we are not evil like you would like to betray us.
Jeane Kirkpatrick, foreign
Jeane Kirkpatrick, foreign policy advisor to Ronald Reagan wrote:"Traditional authoritarian governments are less repressive than revolutionary autocracies."
I may not have the quote exactly right, but I remember her saying of dictator Manuel Noriega:"He may look like a duck and smell like a duck, but he's OUR duck!"
Little Steven in his protest
Little Steven in his protest song,"Ain't Gonna Play Sun City" writes:" Look around the world, baby, it cannot be denied--why we're always on the wrong side." We are not an evil people, but our government has a history of siding with the most repressive regimes:Pinochet, Marcos, the junta in Greece. It's a matter of choosing ideology over freedom and justice.
As long as we think we are
As long as we think we are above the other nations of the world and not among the nations of the world we will be portrayed as superior and trying to appear as superior is stupid. When The US takes her place among the nations of the world then She will be superior. We don't even get the name right we are the US. We are not America.