“God gives the people strength and blesses them with peace”
– Psalm 29:11
By Blair Matheson TSSF
We daily watch the cycle of inhumane wars and environmental abuse, leading to human suffering, conflict, and migration at unheard-of levels across the planet.
Our hearts cry for peace. However, external peace comes from places where justice prevails, where God-given strength overrules the human desire for power, control, and riches.
Internal peace is a personal place where no “one size fits all,” but a key is being open to creating space for peace to grow within oneself. Curiosity and listening help us understand what peace can become for us. This space allows for understanding and forgiveness, meaning we have listened to, acted, and embraced someone else’s perspective. This is a pathway for peace, through exploration and the willingness to be challenged.
As Franciscan servants, we face difficult challenges like anyone does. Being Franciscan is about living through Franciscan values, accompanying those who seek ways to bring justice and peace into their lives. It is about being accompanied; about being mentored by those who society pushes to the margins. In the same way as St. Francis allowed the leper to mentor him and open his eyes to the world of the excluded.
Our prayer, study, and work are woven together not only by the interconnectedness of all we do daily, but through our relationships with those we work, pray, and study with. These relationships allow us to receive from others and give into their lives and situations, working together for peace and the planet.
The “Franciscan economy” is a current topic of discussion in relation to peace. By moving community economies from buying and selling to giving and receiving, it can be a tool to build a future that is more inclusive and just. This takes the courage to change but also asks us to consider lowering our standard of living to reduce personal consumption, reducing the level of income required and our reliance on corporate and big business products.
These are some of the challenges we face to bring peace into a world seeking hope and an example of ways forward to greater equality, justice, peace, and care for the environments we live in.
The day before this World Day of Peace was the first-ever UN World Cleanup Day. Its message goes beyond environmental cleanup: to the clean-up of our world from inequality and injustice to practically bring peace to the people.