January 2004

There are approximately thirty armed conflicts being waged on our planet today. Some everyone can see, others have been forgotten, but this does not mean they are any less cruel. Violence, hatred, bitter disputes are present even in those countries that live “in peace.”
All people feel a deep longing for peace, for harmony, for unity. And yet, in spite of all the efforts and good will, after millennia of history, we find ourselves incapable of achieving a stable and lasting peace.
Jesus came to bring us peace, a peace that is “not” – he says – like that which the world gives (see Jn 14:27), for it is not merely the absence of war, of fighting, of division, and of tragedy. “His” peace is this too, but it is also much more: it is fullness of life and joy. It is the salvation of the whole person, it is freedom, it is brotherhood born from the love among all peoples. He himself is our peace (see Eph 2:14), and this is why he can say:

«My peace I give to you»

What did Jesus do in order to give us “his” peace? He paid for it in person. Precisely while he was promising us peace, he was being betrayed by one of his friends, and then he was put into enemy hands and condemned to a cruel and humiliating death. He put himself between the opposing parties, he burdened himself with the hatred and the separations, and he brought down the walls that separated the nations (see Eph 2: 14-18). By dying on the cross – after having experienced the abandonment of the Father out of love for us – he reunited humankind to God and people to one another, thus bringing universal brotherhood on earth.
Building peace requires the same of us: it calls for a fervent love, a love that enables us to love even those who do not love us back, a love that knows how to forgive, how to see beyond the category of enemy, how to love the other person’s country as one’s own. This requires a transformation in people from being faint-hearted and self-centered, into being unassuming heroes who, day after day, not only serve their brothers and sisters but are ready to give even their lives for them. Furthermore, building peace requires having a new heart with which to love everyone and new eyes with which to see each and every person as candidates for universal brotherhood.

We could ask ourselves: “Even those quarreling neighbors in my condominium? Even those colleagues at work who stand in the way of my career? Even those members of an opposing political party or of a rival soccer team? Even those people of a different religion or nationality?
Yes, each person is my brother or sister. Peace is born right there, from the relationship I establish with each one of my neighbors. “Evil begins in the human heart,” wrote the Italian statesman and historian Igino Giordani, and “to remove the danger of war, we need to remove the spirit of aggression, exploitation and egoism from which war arises: we need to re-construct a conscience.”

«My peace I give to you»

How can Jesus give us peace today? Through our reciprocal love, through our unity, he can be present in our midst (see Mt 18:20). This will enable us to experience his light, his strength, his own Spirit, the fruits of which are love, joy, and peace (see Gal 5:22). Peace and unity run parallel.
During this month in which we pray especially for the full and visible communion among Churches, we are even more aware of the connection between unity and peace. In past years we have seen how much the Churches and individual Christians have worked together for peace.
How can we be witnesses of the profound peace brought by Jesus if we Christians do not have the fullness of love among ourselves, if we are not one heart and one soul as was the first community in Jerusalem (see Acts 4:32)?
The world will change if we change. We definitely have to work as much as we can to resolve the conflicts and to develop laws that urge individuals and nations to live together in peace. Above all, by emphasizing what unites us, we will do our part to create a mentality of peace, and in this way we will work together for the good of humanity.

If we bear witness to and help to spread authentic values such as tolerance, respect, patience, forgiveness, and understanding, other attitudes that are in conflict with peace will automatically disappear.
This was our experience during World War II when we young women decided to live only to love. We were young and afraid, but as soon as we made the effort to live for one another, to help others, beginning with those most in need, and to serve them at the risk of our own lives, everything changed. We experienced a new inner strength and we saw the people around us begin to change: a small Christian community rose up that became the seed of a “civilization of love.” Ultimately, love wins out because it is stronger than anything else.
Let’s try to live in this way during this month so as to be the leaven of a new culture of peace and justice, and we will see a new humanity come to life in us and around us.

Chiara Lubich