By Fr Antony Christy, SDB –
December 5, 2021 – Second Sunday in Advent
Baruch 5: 1-19; Philippians 1: 4-6, 8-11; Luke 3: 1-6
After the week of hope that we celebrated, today we initiate the week of Peace! Peace be with you, was the constant salutation that the Prince of Peace preferred to use at most of the moments… and Shalom was an expression very close to the biblical people, even during Jesus’ times, and it remains so, for us too! We are indeed awaiting and preparing these days for the prince of peace, the highest good and happiness that we can ever think of!
Peace… how much we lack in the world today! With the anxieties of every day that one witnesses we find peace far far away, not in the light of any vicinity. At all levels, personal, interpersonal, communitarian, social and global, peace seems to be an endless dream that eludes invariably everyone! In the season of expectation and wait, the Word today offers us a lesson on what true peace is all about!
Peace is fruit of Communion! The Lord is the Prince of Peace, because the Lord who comes is the God of Communion! The perfect communion that exists between the persons of the Trinity, is the communion that is placed within the core of the human being. When the human being can discover the worth of that core, humanity will find its true meaning and there will be peace everywhere! All that is happening these days, the human greed and craze of materiality, the social problems and mutual exploitations, the international conflicts and warmongering… all these keep persons away from that possibility of communion that exists within themselves!
Reflecting on this communion that the Lord is, the communion that the Lord brings and the communion that the Lord offers us, we are given with, three key terms to understand the peace that the Lord offers.
Peace is fruit of communion, communion within oneself: we call that integrity! Where there is balance and equanimity within, there is peace. Between my wants and my situation, between what I think and what I speak, between what I say and what I believe, between what I am and what I do, when there is a consistency and coherence, it results in peace. This is personal integrity, a core characteristic of God. As long as I am torn within myself between conflicting tendencies, I cannot find peace, not only within me, but nowhere in the world. This is one reason why some persons, wherever they are, in whosever company they are, in whichever situation they are, they always find themselves in the midst of conflict and tension – may be the problem is within! I need to mend my ways, fill the pitfalls and level the mounds of pride and that will my personal integrity. Where there is integrity, there is peace!
Peace is fruit of communion, communion with each other: we call that justice! It is not merely compassion or mercy, it is not some individual virtue or goodness that is at the fount of mutual communion. It is justice! Being just is a key element of Divinity…and that justice invites and challenges me to be just in my ways, in my ways of thinking, speaking, acting and the ways of making decisions. The more I am in communion with the other, the more I contribute to common peace. Individual mutual relationships are the schools at which we learn universal harmony. Without the former the latter will remain always a wishful thinking! Justice is respect of the other; it is valuing the significance of the other and pledging my role in the well being of the other… in short it is promoting the true communion with each other, thus promotion of peace.Where there is justice, there is peace!
Peace is fruit of communion, communion with God: we call that faith! Peace seems such a costly and rare experience to create for oneself and offer for others, because it springs from the relationship that I have established with the source of my being – my Creator. The world today seems to be making the utmost effort to wean itelf from its Creator! It wants to do away with faith; it wants close the churces down; it wants to put an end to all spiritual affiliations that the society has had throughout history – simply because times are changing and we are growing! But there is an increased restlessness and inquietitude in the human soul, for it shall never rest unless it rests in the Divine, who is the source of its very being and meaning. The Candle of Bethlehem that we have lighted this week, reminds us of two persons who were totally in communion with the Lord and because of which the great mysteries of heaven came down to earth: Mary and Joseph…the most perfect couple who on earth. Their faithfulness to the Word, their faith in God brought salvation not only to their family and their people, but to the entire world, to the entire human race. Only when humanity learns to give the space and honour due to its Creator, ultimate communion would be born; where there is faith, there is peace!
May the call to prepare the way of the Lord, be a strengthening of our commitment to respond to the Lord of communion, to promote communion, and thus give peace a chance!
Fr Antony Christy is a Salesian Priest from 2005, who has a Masters in Philosophy (specialisation in Religion) and a Masters in Theology (Specialisation in Catechetics). He is currently pursuing his doctoral research in Theology at Salesian Pontifical University, Rome. Walking with the Young towards a World of Peace and Dialogue is the passion that fires him.