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St. Mary Roman Catholic Church
New Britain, Connecticut |
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Fr. Salvatore Rosa Jan 1, the beginning of a New Year, is World Peace Day. Our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, has written a special message to all people of good will asking us to pray for peace in our world during the coming year. In his message he reflects on the state of the world, terrorism, the Arab-Israeli war, and other international conflicts. The Pope has invited representatives of all the worlds’ religions to unite with him toward the end of January, at Assisi in Italy, to pray for peace. Our prayers from today on are to be part of the crusade for World Peace. Today I want to share with you some of the main points of his message. The Pope begins by saying that the two pillars of peace are justice and forgiveness. Justice and forgiveness are not opposites or contrary to one another. They fit together and work hand in hand. We will not be able to have peace without first achieving justice. But we will not be able to have justice without forgiveness. Justice is the first step, forgive-ness is the second. It goes further, and builds on what justice has done. Justice means that evildoers are made to bear the burden and responsibilities of their actions. Justice makes sure that the wrongs done have been made right on a national and international scale, that evil has been fully addressed and no one gets away with anything. Justice restores order to society, moral, social and political order, so that relations between countries can move forward. Justice has to be satisfied before it is possible to talk about forgiveness. But forgiveness completes and perfects what justice accomplishes. Without forgiveness, justice can degenerate into resentment and revenge, into a bloodthirstiness that sparks more violence. Forgiveness says “now that wrongs have been set right as far as is humanly possible, now that the guilty have been punished, we must work to heal the hatred that festers in the human heart.” Without forgiveness to heal the hatred, justice will not end in peace but in more violence. With justice and forgiveness, peace is possible. The Pope calls upon all nations and leaders to condemn terrorism for the evil that it is. Today terrorism reaches beyond national borders and entangles the whole world. It can strike innocent people anywhere, who have nothing to do with terrorist aims or agenda. Terrorism is always a crime against humanity.
It is never possible to justify terrorism. Some terrorists call themselves freedom fighters and say “Look at the intolerable injustices that exist in the world, the dire poverty, look how our human rights are denied us. Terror is the only weapon we have, the only way we can fight for our people.” But in fact, terrorism makes the situation of the poor even worse. The poor exist on a very thin margin of survival. They depend on help from outside, on international aid, just to exist. In the continued violence and chaos that follow acts of terrorism, the poor are the ones who pay the price. No aid can reach them, no food, no medicine. If they are not killed quickly in the response to terrorism, they die slowly from starvation and sickness. Terrorism actually works against the very people it supposedly wants to help. It destroys their thin margin of survival. Terrorism is the opposites of true faith in God and genuine religion. The Pope says no religious leader can approve terrorism or promote it. To kill man in the name of God who creates man and loves him is a blasphemous use of religion and a contradiction of real faith in God.
Justice without forgiveness ends up producing more violence. The Arab-Israeli conflict in the Holy Land is proof of this. Acts of war and terrorism have been going on there for fifty years. Each attack on the enemy seems like a victory for the moment: “We killed some of them.” But the attack provokes a similar response: “We killed more of them back in return.” So the momentary victory makes the long term situation even worse. Each attack provokes more hatred, more violence and further retaliations in an unstoppable sequence of tragedy. What’s the answer? The Pope says that instead of continuing to aggravate the situation, both sides must agree to work for a negotiated solution. The rights and just demands of Arab and Israeli can be taken into proper account, and a just solution can be reached, if on both sides there is the will to forgiveness and peace. When there is no will to forgiveness, violence continues beyond reason, beyond all limits, resulting in more death and destruction. Resources are used for armaments, weapons, bombs, instead of being available for human development. Any chance for progress is eliminated, and the poor are made to suffer even more. Peace is essential for progress and development, but peace is possible only with forgiveness. Forgiveness may look like weakness, but is an act of strength. Forgiveness does not spring from cowardice, but from courage. Forgiveness does not diminish us as persons, but makes us a greater people. Make peace, thru justice and forgiveness, your prayer for the New Year.
Mail to: franceswei@saintmarynb.org with questions and commands |
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