World Day of Peace, 2006

After having a very fun new year's eve (despite the lack of electricity thanks to storm-related outages), I attended mass at my "home" church, St. Augustine's. It felt really, good to be back in that church, where everywhere I turned I saw people Brown like me. Catholicism is infused with my sense of being Filipino, and I can't imagine giving it up. Some catholics may give me up, being queer and all, but they can't make me quit it.

Let me start by saying that for the first time I took a friend to church with me. She was a great sport, accompanying me despite her own lack of identification with Catholicism. (I can't imagine what folks do when they have "real" religious differences. I was already worried that asking my friend to accompany me was too much...worried about what she thought about the various rituals and prayers that made up the mass.)

In any case, I have to say that I really enjoyed the father's sermon--so much so that I feel the need to write a little about it here.

As it turns out, January 1, 2006 was the World Day of Peace. I don't really know much about the World Day of Peace, and I'm less interested in the current pope's message for this year's celebration (but you can certainly do your own research and find out more about both if you're interested). I was very capivated, though, by my father's sermon in celebration of the World Day of Peace. Specifically, he talked about truth, justice, freedom, and love. I couldn't replicate his sermon here, despite my desire to, but here's some cool sites/resources I found that I feel are in keeping with his message.



from
http://www.johndear.org/sermons_homilies/worldpeace.html

Pope John Paul has declared January 1st "World Peace Day." As you know, each week over the past two months, he has issued strong statements against the U.S. plans to massacre children in Iraq, to lead us to World War III, and to risk nuclear war with North Korea. The other day he said, "There is no alternative to peace." Each year, he gives a long statement on January 1st. This year, he calls the worldwide church to reflect on the 40th anniversary of Pope John 23rd's encyclical "Pacem in Terris." Here is an excerpt from the statement he issued today:

"Blessed Pope John XXIII was a man unafraid of the future. He was sustained in his optimism by his deep trust in God and in humanity, both of which grew out of the faith in which he had grown up. Moved by his trust in Providence, even in what seemed like a permanent situation of war, he did not hesitate to summon the leaders of his time to a new vision of peace for the world. This is the legacy that he left us.

"On this World Day of Peace, January 1st, 2003, let us all resolve to have his same outlook: to trust in the merciful and compassionate God who calls us to brotherhood and sisterhood, and to have confidence in the men and women of our time because, like those of every other time, they bear the image of God in their souls. It is on this basis that we can hope to build a world of peace on earth.

"At the beginning of a new year in our human history, this is the hope that rises spontaneously from the depths of my heart: that in the spirit of every individual there may be a renewed dedication to the noble mission which Pacem in Terris proposed forty years ago to all men and women of good will, the task of establishing new relationships in human society, under the sway and guidance of the four pillars of peace: "truth, justice, love, and freedom."

He concluded with a prayer: May the God who calls us from oppression and war to freedom and cooperation for the good of all, help people everywhere to build a world of peace on the four pillars of peace taught by Blessed Pope John 23: truth, justice, love, freedom



Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald, M.Afr. " Peace in the World: The Contribution of Interreligious Relations" February 28, 2005. Georgetown University. http://www.bc.edu/research/cjl/meta-elements/texts/cjrelations/resources/articles/fitzgerald_28Feb05.htm



Some related notable quotations, from Catholic Social Teaching, Office for Social Justice, Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis http://www.osjspm.org/cst/

Every citizen also has the responsibility to work to secure justice and human rights through an organized social response. In the words of Pius XI, "Charity will never be true charity unless it takes justice into account ... Let no one attempt with small gifts of charity to exempt himself from the great duties imposed by justice" [71]. The guaranteeing of basic justice for all is not an optional expression of largesse but an inescapable duty for the whole of society. (Economic Justice for All #120)

Christian love of neighbor and justice cannot be separated. For love implies an absolute demand for justice, namely a recognition of the dignity and rights of one's neighbor. Justice attains its inner fullness only in love. Because every person is truly a visible image of the invisible God and a sibling of Christ, the Christian finds in every person God himself and God's absolute demand for justice and love. (Justice in the World #34)