The Price of Peace

Guess the author of the piece on peace below.

“We must not be content simply to support the efforts of others in the work for peace; we must also scrutinize our own attitudes. Statesmen, responsible as they are for the common good of their own nation and at the same time for the well-being of the whole world, are very much dependent on the opinions and convictions of the general public. Their efforts to secure peace are of no avail as long as we are divided or set against each other by feelings of hostility, contempt and distrust, by racial hatred or by inflexible ideologies. There is then a very great and urgent need to reeducate and to provide fresh inspiration in the field of public opinion.

Those engaged in education, especially among young people, and those who influence public opinion, should consider it a very serious responsibility to work for the reeducation of humankind to a new attitude toward peace. We must all undergo a change of heart. We must look out on the whole world and see the tasks that we can all do together to promote the well-being of the family of humanity. We must not be misled by a false sense of hope. Unless antagonism and hatred are abandoned, unless binding and honest agreements are concluded, safeguarding universal peace in the future, humankind, already in grave peril, may well face in spite of its marvelous advance in knowledge that day of disaster when it knows no other peace than the awful peace of death.

In saying this, however, the Church of Christ, living as it does in the midst of these anxious times, continues unwaveringly in hope. Time and again, in season and out of season, it seeks to proclaim to our age the message of the Apostle: Now is the hour of God’s favor, the hour for change of heart; now is the day of salvation.

To build peace, the causes of human discord which feed the fires of war must first be eliminated, and among these especially the violations of justice. Many of these causes are due to gross economic inequality and delay in providing necessary remedies. Others arise from a spirit of domination and from a contempt for others, and, among more fundamental causes, from human envy, distrust, pride and other forms of selfishness. Since humanity cannot bear so many violations of due order, the result is that, even where war does not rage, the world is constantly plagued by human conflict and acts of violence.

The same evils are also found in relations between nations. It is therefore absolutely necessary that international institutions should cooperate more effectively, more resolutely and with greater coordination of effort, in order to overcome or prevent these evils, and to check unbridled acts of violence. There must also be constant encouragement for the creation of organizations designed to promote peace.”

(Italicized words are nouns/pronouns that I changed to be consistent with contemporary practice. Words in bold are mine for emphasis.)

Did You Guess Right?

In view of Russia’s war against Ukraine, the litany of mass shootings in the United States and abroad, and the political vitriol that especially seethes during election periods, the above piece sounds like a modern day pundit addressing the issues of 2022. In point of fact, it is an excerpt from the Vatican II document, Gaudium et Spes, The Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World – one of the sixteen texts promulgated after the Council’s close in 1965. A stark reminder that the evils in today’s world originated decades, or even centuries, ago.

Disturbing? Depressing? Distressing? All that and more unless you lift one excerpt from above: “the Church of Christ…continues unwaveringly in hope.”

This is not wishful thinking or foolish naivete. It is a conviction of the truth proclaimed by Christ when he walked the earth and backed up by his death and resurrection.

 As St. Paul said to the Church in Corinth, ^” If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. (1 Cor. 15: 19-20)“

Of this hope, the writer of the letter to the Hebrews adds that “through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible that God would prove false, we who have taken refuge might be strongly encouraged to seize the hope set before us.  We have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters the inner shrine behind the curtain, where Jesus, a forerunner on our behalf, has entered, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. (Hebrews 6:18-20)“

So if you find yourself distraught with the question, “What is this world coming to?”, the answer is “to an end.” And with that end, a new beginning. The beginning of life without pandemics, politics, polarization, pundits, or public opinion; a life of lasting peace; a promise fulfilled.

Since I can’t think of any other “p” words – THE END.