Bible
Study: Numbers 6, 22 to 27. Galatians 4, 4 to 7 and Luke 2, 16 to 21.
Our first
reading tonight sounds more like a prayer than an admonition. Indeed it is a formula
of blessing which God himself gave to Moses. There is one aspect of the prayer
that forms the bedrock of our reflection this evening. It says: May the Lord
lift his countenance upon you, and give you peace. Peace. Yes, Peace. What is
Peace? And how can the world today find peace?
In his
message for the 2017 world day of Peace, Pope Francis shares some of his ideas
on the topic of peace. In the beginning, he noted that the foundation for all
peace is the recognition that every human being is a sacred gift, endowed with great
dignity and made in the image and likeness of God. Once you see your fellow
human being in this light, you wouldn’t want to harm, hurt or be violent towards
him or her no matter what he or she may have done to you.
This very
night, I want us to carry out a little exercise. Think about all those who
offended you in this year 2016, picture in your mind all the violence, hatred,
injustice and pain you suffered from people. Now, the question I sincerely want
to ask you is: What are you planning to do with all these people whose names
and faces you now picture? Do you intend to carry the pains and hurts into the New
Year? Pope Francis says: “When victims of violence are able to resist the temptation
to retaliate, they become the most credible promoters of nonviolent
peacemaking.” This means peace begins with those who are already victims of violence.
I am sure there is no one here who has not been hurt before. We all are
victims. But we have a choice either to become promoters of peace by entering
2017 in a clean state or carry the smells and dirt of 2016 along with us.
But today,
I encourage you to choose peace instead. Since 2016 will never come again,
since this year will die forever tonight, let us decide to allow the hurts and
pains of 2016 to die with it. This is a night of crossing over, if we don’t get
to forgive and let go, if we still plan to recall the past and retaliate, then
it means we are not fully crossing over. Why is Peace necessary? Pope Francis
recalling the words of Pope Paul VI fifty years ago in the first world day of
peace message stated: “Peace is the only direction of human progress…” Do you
want to be blessed in life? Do you want to be successful and achieve your
dreams of a greater future, then Peace is absolutely necessary.
There is
no progress when there is no peace. When we look at our world today, listen to
news headlines, we cannot but notice that the world as a whole is “engaged in a
horrifying world war fought piecemeal.” This has brought about great suffering
all over the world. We hear of terrorism, organised crime, abuses of migrants,
human trafficking, devastation of the environment and so on all because the
world has refused to follow the path of nonviolence and embrace peace instead.
The question Pope Francis asks is “Can violence achieve any goal of lasting
value?” Nothing! Violence has never and will never produce anything good
instead it will only lead to more suffering, forceful migrations of people from
their homelands, death (both physical and spiritual death) of many if not of
all.
One great
man once defined anger as “the punishment we inflict on ourselves because of
the mistakes of others.” In war, there is never a winner. Every battle is an
endless cycle of attack, retaliation, counter attack and further retaliation. It
never ends. Picture those who have hurt you and wish them good, drop your plans
of doing evil to them. Realize that there is no amount of retaliation that will
compensate for the harm they have done because it will only bring you more pain
and injury. Even Jesus acknowledges that both war and peace begin from the
heart.
Conquer that
voice that keeps crying out for violence deep inside you, allow Jesus speak to
your heart as you reflect on Jesus’ own life and words. In Matthew 5,44 Jesus
said: “Love your enemies.” When someone slaps you, “turn the other cheek.” In
John 8, 1 to 11 Jesus refused to allow the crowd stone the woman caught in
adultery to death. Jesus would never consent to jungle justice as is now
rampart in Nigeria today. For instance when a small boy of 7 stole garri, he
was stoned and burnt to death. Has this violent treatment stopped stealing in
Nigeria? Dear friends violence no matter how attractive it may seem cannot achieve
anything. On the night Jesus was betrayed, Peter brought out his sword to begin
a war, he slew the ear of Malchus and would have cut off someone’s head but
Jesus stopped him. He replaced the ear and asked Peter to put back his weapon.
Jesus not only preached Peace. He practiced it to the end.
We must be
people of Peace because as Pope Benedict XVI said, there is already too much violence,
too much injustice in the world. Violence cannot stop violence. The world today
need more love, and more Goodness. We not only believe in, we also practice
what the Gospel teaches, “Love your enemies.” (luke 6,27). This is our anthem,
it is our identity, it is our supreme rule, our magna carta. It is not as is we
are to do nothing when people hurt us. No, we are no simply to fold our hands
and allow people crush us. Rather, work with love, trace out the roots of the
conflict and disagreement and speak directly to our offenders using a language
free from hatred or violence. The Pope extols Mother Teresa as an icon who
fought poverty, injustice and disrespect for human life by identifying herself
with the world’s poorest, caring for the world’s rejected; the unborn and those
abandoned. By her work, she became the conscience of world leaders. There are
also many others who have achieved great things through non-violence such as
Mahatma Gandhi, Khan Abdul Ghaffer, Martin Luther King Jr, Leymah Gbowee and so
many others. Not left out is John Paul II who succeeded in ending the communist
regime in Europe without lifting a single gun or knife.
The Church
has always stood for non-violence as well as other Christian denominations. In fact,
according to Pope Francis, all religions stand for and promote non-violence. “No
religion is terrorist… The name of God cannot be used to justify violence.
Peace alone is holy. Peace alone is holy, not war.” It means that any group or
body that preaches war is not a religion.
The family
is the bedroom of the world where non-violence must be taught and learnt. When
conflicts and friction arise, the cure is not force but dialogue, respect,
concern for the good of the other, mercy and forgiveness. At times, by
inflicting violence on children, Parents indirectly teach children that the
only solution for the mistakes of others is a violent response. Yet, such
children only get hardened and device tricks to hide from their parents, they
then go haywire the moment they leave home. “The Politics of nonviolence have
to begin in the home and then spread to the entire human family.
This New
Year, let one of our resolutions be to follow the advice of Saint Therese of
Lisieux: “Practice the little way of Love. Never miss out on a kind word, a
smile or any small gesture which sows peace and friendship.” In other words, I must
henceforth smile at anybody I meet regardless of what or who that person is to
me. I must spread joy and peace. I must follow the manual that Jesus gave in
the beatitudes. I must be meek, merciful, peaceful, pure in heart, hunger and
thirst for justice. I must actively show mercy by refusing to discard people,
by refusing to harm the environment, by refusing to engage in competitions with
others whereby I seek to win at all costs. This New Year, I must banish
violence from my heart, I must banish violence from my words, (no more shouting
at others, no more insults), I must banish violence from my deeds (no more
jungle justice). Every one of us can champion peace.
Let us pray:
Lord Jesus, Prince of Peace. Fill my heart with Peace that I may be a promoter
of peace. Amen
Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith.
It is well with you. God bless you and New Year.
Fr. Abu.
No comments:
Post a Comment