Week of 15th January 2006
IN TRUTH, PEACE
Today is the World Day of Peace, a theme close to all human hearts. Below are extracts from Pope Benedict’s powerful Message for the Day – available from www.vatican.va
3. … Forty years ago … the 2nd Vatican Council stated that mankind will not succeed in ''building a truly more human world for everyone, everywhere on earth, unless all people are renewed in spirit and converted to the truth of peace''. …we must realize that peace cannot be reduced to the simple absence of armed conflict, but needs to be understood as ''the fruit of an order which has been planted in human society by its divine Founder'' ….
5. …Sacred Scripture, in its very first book, Genesis, points to the lie told at the very beginning of history by the animal with a forked tongue, whom the Evangelist John calls ''the father of lies'' (Jn 8:44). …. the final chapter of the last book of the Bible, Revelation, which bars liars from the heavenly Jerusalem, (says) ''outside are... all who love falsehood'' (22:15). Lying …has had and continues to have, devastating effects on the lives of individ-uals & nations. We need but think of the events of the past century, when aberrant ideolo-gical and political systems wilfully twisted the truth and brought about the exploitation & murder of an appalling number … wiping out entire families and communities. After ex-periences like these, how can we fail to be seriously concerned about lies in our own time, lies which are the framework for menacing scenarios of death in many parts of the world. Any authentic search for peace must begin with the realization that the problem of truth and untruth is the concern of everyone; it is decisive for the peaceful future of our planet.
6…everyone should strive …to prevent any form of untruth from poisoning relationships.
9. …..Pope John Paul II (said): ''Those who kill by acts of terrorism actually despair of humanity, of life, of the future. In their view, everything is to be hated and destroyed''. ….. From the beginning, John Paul II was aware of the explosive danger represented by fanatical fundamentalism, and he condemned it unsparingly, while warning against attempts to impose (rather than to propose for others freely to accept) one's own convictions about the truth …
11. In view of the risks which humanity is facing in our time, all Catholics in every part of the world have a duty … to show that acknowledgment of the full truth of God is the first, indispensable condition for consolidating the truth of peace.
15….. the Church, in fidelity to the mission she has received from her Founder, … reminds everyone that, if peace is to be authentic and lasting, it must be built on the bedrock of the truth about God and the truth about man. ….
16. . When we hear the Gospel, dear brothers and sisters, we learn to build peace on the truth of a daily life inspired by the commandment of love…. At the same time I ask for an increase of prayers, since peace is above all a gift of God, a gift to be implored incessantly
BENEDICTUS PP. XVI
Today is the World Day of Peace, a theme close to all human hearts. Below are extracts from Pope Benedict’s powerful Message for the Day – available from www.vatican.va
3. … Forty years ago … the 2nd Vatican Council stated that mankind will not succeed in ''building a truly more human world for everyone, everywhere on earth, unless all people are renewed in spirit and converted to the truth of peace''. …we must realize that peace cannot be reduced to the simple absence of armed conflict, but needs to be understood as ''the fruit of an order which has been planted in human society by its divine Founder'' ….
5. …Sacred Scripture, in its very first book, Genesis, points to the lie told at the very beginning of history by the animal with a forked tongue, whom the Evangelist John calls ''the father of lies'' (Jn 8:44). …. the final chapter of the last book of the Bible, Revelation, which bars liars from the heavenly Jerusalem, (says) ''outside are... all who love falsehood'' (22:15). Lying …has had and continues to have, devastating effects on the lives of individ-uals & nations. We need but think of the events of the past century, when aberrant ideolo-gical and political systems wilfully twisted the truth and brought about the exploitation & murder of an appalling number … wiping out entire families and communities. After ex-periences like these, how can we fail to be seriously concerned about lies in our own time, lies which are the framework for menacing scenarios of death in many parts of the world. Any authentic search for peace must begin with the realization that the problem of truth and untruth is the concern of everyone; it is decisive for the peaceful future of our planet.
6…everyone should strive …to prevent any form of untruth from poisoning relationships.
9. …..Pope John Paul II (said): ''Those who kill by acts of terrorism actually despair of humanity, of life, of the future. In their view, everything is to be hated and destroyed''. ….. From the beginning, John Paul II was aware of the explosive danger represented by fanatical fundamentalism, and he condemned it unsparingly, while warning against attempts to impose (rather than to propose for others freely to accept) one's own convictions about the truth …
11. In view of the risks which humanity is facing in our time, all Catholics in every part of the world have a duty … to show that acknowledgment of the full truth of God is the first, indispensable condition for consolidating the truth of peace.
15….. the Church, in fidelity to the mission she has received from her Founder, … reminds everyone that, if peace is to be authentic and lasting, it must be built on the bedrock of the truth about God and the truth about man. ….
16. . When we hear the Gospel, dear brothers and sisters, we learn to build peace on the truth of a daily life inspired by the commandment of love…. At the same time I ask for an increase of prayers, since peace is above all a gift of God, a gift to be implored incessantly
BENEDICTUS PP. XVI
posted by Sinead Reekie at 2:52 pm