The missing peace

We desire for peace. So many of talks about need for peace themselves show that there is an absence of peace. These talks go on in the context of family, mental health, companies, and on international levels. While the search for peace is everywhere, genuine peace remains one of the ambiguous realities of our contemporary world. Perhaps, it is because we define peace as a smooth track to achieve our own interests. In reality, humanity is starving for authentic peace.

Peace is not just an absence of conflicts; peace necessarily ensures life. Pope Francis often emphasised that peace is an attitude of the heart, an openness to life, a disposition to welcome the other. Peace cannot remain an inner comfort, it also involves the lives of the other. When peace is desired, whether as an individual, family or a society, it naturally creates a culture that welcomes, protects, and nurtures life in all its dimensions including the life of nature. Where peace exists, life grows; where peace is absent, life is devalued and destroyed. It is also on the other way; where there is openness to life, an attitude of welcoming instead of suspecting, where there is genuine love, peace begins to sprout. When we are free to pursue truth, goodness, and justice, peace arises naturally.

When freedom is equated with a right to do whatever one pleases, gratify any desire, or assert power over others it disrupts peace. Peace established under domination, or forced submission is not peace at all. True peace is built on mutual responsibility, justice, reconciliation, and shared dignity. We were created out of the love of God the Father, and we live as brothers and sisters. That is the foundation of building peace.

St. Thérèse of child Jesus whose feast we celebrate today, shows a spiritual path for achieving interior and exterior peace through absolute trust in God's providence. There​, peace can be related to the confidence of the little child who sleeps without fear in its father’s arms. If we honestly observe, much of the anxiety and conflict in our lives comes from our desperate attempt to control every outcome. The success of a project, victory of war, winning court case, my argument in a society-discussion we want them all ​on our side. Conflicts often remain unresolved not because of the issue itself, but we don’t want to give up, we want to win, and defend our pride. defensive debates become part of our daily attitudes. Where does peace begin then? In all that we have reflected so far, Peace Begins from little moments of trust, humility, and acts of love. Though these may sound too soft, and may be neglected easily, these principles offer a true path for resolving interpersonal conflicts, and cultivating peace in family homes and modern workplaces. Every family, community or workplace may have challenging situations or members who irritate us. Of course it is a struggle. It may be a great effort assisted with grace to treat the so-called difficult people with the greatest warmth and kindness.

Often, peace is not our first option. We wrongly think that overpowering or defeating is what sustains us. In fact, a conflict environment itself is destructive. What we need is a peace culture which may shape our attitudes, behaviours and relationships. We often think peacebuilding requires grand gestures or major interventions. The reality of peace is an outcome of small-level choices. May be let us focus on small acts of restraining ourselves, quiet service, and interior calm. May be let us avoid a sharp reply, an irritating sarcasm, or unnecessary criticism.

peace is not something we win by conquering others, but a gift we receive when we learn to surrender our pride and rest in the Father’s love. Angels sang of peace for people of good will. By making room for one another in kindness and trust, we become the very prophets of peace our world so desperately needs. It is truly prophetic today dear brothers and sisters, because peace does not bring any profit in this competing economic world, but conflicts create huge profit.

Repentance-Good-Life

Repentance is often not possible because its foundation is faulty. We may root repentance into sin, and sin as the cause of all the miserable things we are at. We may be assuming our problems as punishments, curses and other unknown things behind and are thought to be somehow connected to sin. So, repentance is to get rid of all these miseries. Instead, true repentance is our openness to the life of God.

To be in the life of God, the direction given to us is to renounce doing evil and to learn to do good. Why do we do evil? There may be some people intentionally doing evil. They know fully that what they choose to do are evil, but they sacralise those evils as good for the support from others. Many evils we have in our life may have happened by mistake, and we are carrying the burden of it. We regret on them. Many other evils are out of our helplessness. It happens. Often, they may be justified, because there may be hidden pains or injuries that lead to those evils. Often, we may be attached to these evils or the injuries behind them though they are painful. God also may justify them, because God knows what has happened in reality. But God does not want us to remain in them because he knows that they damage us however justifiable they are. God calls us to his life, in which we may be consoled and comforted and experience life. Repentance is this readiness to take this option before us.

Learn to do good is not just doing some good deeds, it includes our views, thinking, our conversations, attitudes to events and people, and of course our actions. The good we are called to possess have a name that is Christ. So, the goal of repentance is to be like him. It is a path of grace. Just like Christ proclaimed the gospel offering us life, where we find an episode of our life within the gospel story. Christ’s life was sacrificial and redemptive, our ‘good-life’ is also to be sacrificial and redemptive. Our memories give us a language to reread our pain and injuries which may hold us in evil. Let us have the language of the gospel to reread and reinterpret our lives. We have the altar to which come with our burdens and sorrows, there is another living altar of Christ at home where repentance becomes fruitful, offering sacrifice and being redemptive for others. It is not about how broken we are or how damaged are our relationships, but it is all about the possibility of our entry into the grace available for us.

Dying

If our communities have lost life, it is because we have chosen not to have a lifegiving death. Willfully we have kept aside the sense of sacrifice, service and death.

Can these dry bones live?

Many problems we may have, and many of them seemingly have no answer. Prophet Ezekiel is addressed with a question, "Son of man, can these dry bones live?" perhaps it is a similar question "can these problems have any answer? The prophet receives a command, "Son of man, prophesy to these dry bones." A prophesy is to open 'truth' before the crisis. Often the problems find no solution because we are not ready to find the truth lying within, what exactly is the issue behind the problem. Rather we might expect God to do magic to solve our problems; to end war, solve climate crisis, resolve family issues etc. when we are ready to put the basic truth, structure, and facts honestly It is a sign that we are ready to receive the grace. Then, the prophesy is to enter into the breath of life. "O breath of life, come from every corner, breath upon the dry bones ..." What breaths more deeply into our death than the life in love. Love involves deliberate choices aiming at goodness ready to face the reality with truth. The breath comes with what we need the most; may be virtues for growth, courage, kindness and care. Breath fully into our deaths, and spread the breath over wherever death has its sign.