The eternal quest for peace
Peace is a household word, pronounced and desired everywhere, yet it is a rare commodity. We want peace and often we get the opposite. What is the problem? Are we correct about our notion of peace?
What does the Church understand by the word peace? And what is the right disposition in order to attain it?
Peace is rooted in keeping the order of creation, for there is harmony in what God has created. And peace is disturbed when humans act contrary to this order established by God (cf Gen 4:1-16). Disobedience severs not only the relationship between God and individual, but affects the entire network. The relations among people as well as between human beings and nature are rendered sour.
Peace is therefore more than a mere absence of war. It is the deficiency of the fullness of life rooted in the obedience to the programme traced by the Creator for humanity (Mal 2:5). Naturally then, it is when people turn to God and learn his will that they walk along the paths of true and lasting peace (Is 2:2-5).
The Hebrew word for peace is shalom, the etymological meaning of which is “completeness”. This completeness embraces the idea of fullness and unity, so that when people live in the wholeness and harmony of who they are — in integrity — as beings created in the image and likeness of God, they arrive at living in peace.
Jesus is our peace, for he has broken down the dividing wall of hostility among people, reconciling them into one family of God (Eph 2:14-16).
Peace is the legacy that he leaves for his disciples — “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you” — and after his resurrection every time he meets his disciples he has words of peace for them: “Peace be with you” (Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church (CSDC] 491).
This peace, which also a fruit of justice and charity, is disturbed when one is denied their due and when we no longer act charitably towards the other.
We have war when peace fails, so we cannot seek victory in war which is the failure of peace. That is why it is an illusion to seek lasting peace through victory in war. War cannot give birth to peace.
However, legitimate defence justifies “the existence in states of armed forces…the activity of which should be at the service of peace” (CSDC 502). But when the armed forces use arms to do violence, they basically act against their raison d’être — they defeat their own reason of existence.
When it comes to protecting peace, especially to defend the “little people”, the members of the international community should step in. “The principle of national sovereignty cannot be claimed as a motive for preventing an intervention in defence of innocent victims”, as John Paul II said in an address to the diplomatic corps on January 16, 1993. It can also not be invoked to prevent bringing perpetrators of crime to the international court of Justice.
Measures should be taken also against those who commit serious violations within a country, and sanctions be applied. However, care should be taken so that such sanctions are not mere suffering for the population in a direct manner. For instance, “an economic embargo must be of limited duration and cannot be justified when the resulting effects are indiscriminate” (CSDC 507).
Terrorism is another enemy of peace. Certainly, people have to defend themselves against terrorism, but it should be within “moral and legal norms, that is, in respect for human rights and rule of law.
The identification of the guilty party must be duly proven, because criminal responsibility is always personal “and therefore cannot be extended to the religious, national or ethnic groups to which the terrorists belong” (CSDC 514). Besides, more than just punishing the perpetrators of terrorism, serious efforts should be made to discover the reasons underlying those terrorist attacks.
Of course, one cannot commit acts of terror and evil in God’s name.
Promoting and bringing about peace is part of the Church’s mission. Since differences are often the reasons for conflicts that threaten peace, the Church must be fully engaged in bringing about forgiveness and reconciliation among people.
However, forgiveness and reconciliation do not rule out the need to seek the truth and justice in a given case.
The late Nelson Mandela leaves us with the following recipe for peace: “If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.”
- Are Saints Models to Emulate or Little Gods? - February 14, 2022
- Towards an African Pentecost! - June 4, 2017
- A Greek Orthodox Giant of Unity - August 3, 2015