MASS
FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE
OTTAWA,
ONTARIO
SEPTEMBER
20, 1984
"Happy
are those who hunger and thirst
for justice..."
(Mt
5,6) "Happy
are the peacemakers"
(Mt
5,9).
At
the end of my pilgrimage on Canadian
soil, in your capital city, Ottawa,
in this Mass, we pray
for justice and peace.
We
pray for justice and peace in the contemporary world and we
base our prayer on the
Beatitudes of Christ
according to the Gospel of Saint Matthew.
We pray for peace, and the way to peace is through justice.
That is why those who truly hunger and thirst for justice are
at the
same time peacemakers.
I
would like the theme that focuses our
prayer today in the context of the
eucharistic sacrifice, to
unite all those who participate in it, all those who are gathered
by the
thousands here at the foot of the splendid Gatineau
Hills, by the banks of the Ottawa River,
around His Grace Joseph Aurèle
Plourde, Archbishop of your city. To His
Grace, to all the residents of Ontario and of Canada and to all
those
who join us from afar, I extend
my warmest
greetings. This river was in the past the gateway to the heart of your continent, when
European
cultures initially came into contact
with those of its first inhabitants. Today, I am among you as a pilgrim of peace and, in my last
homily on
Canadian soil, I would like to expand
on everything I have said during my pastoral mission here. I would like
to make a final synthesis based on the Eight Beatitudes of Christ.
In
the Beatitudes, we encounter, first of all,
a person: the Divine Master.
It is of him that Isaiah speaks when he
announces that a great light
has shone on those who dwell in the land of deep shadow (cf. 9:1).
Those
same words ring out on the night of Christmas:
"For there is a child born for
us, a
son given to us and dominion is laid on his shoulder"
(9:5).
The
power laid on the shoulder of the Child born in the night of Bethlehem is confirmed by the majesty
of the cross.
The crucified one truly
carries in
himself the whole power of the redemption of the world.
And
it is he, Christ crucified, whom Isaiah
calls; "Wonder-Counsellor, Mighty-God,
Eternal-Father, Prince-of-Peace" (9:5).
God
forever confirmed the power of the crucified Christ when he
raised him up. The redeemer, risen
from among the dead, says to the apostles as he leaves them: "All power
in
heaven and on earth have been given to me. Go, therefore, make
disciples
of all nations..." (Mt 28: 18-19).
Thus,
Christ always remains in-the midst of
humanity as this "great light"
of Isaiah which shines "as those who dwell in the land of darkness".
He
remains the "Prince-of-Peace"
and the "Wonder-Counsellor". The way to
justice and peace begins with the redemption of the world which
Christ
accomplished by the power of his cross and resurrection.
This
is critical to remember at a time when
human beings, when nations and
all
of humanity are desperately seeking the way to peace. "Genus
humanum
arte et ratione vivit": Human beings live by wisdom, by culture and by
morality. Violence is in complete contradiction to such a life.
Violence
creates the justifiable need for defence. And at the same time,
violence
threatens to destroy the sources of human life. Not only does it threaten
to kill
human
beings, millions of men and women, but it threatens to
destroy all that is human.
In
the midst of this threatened human
family, Christ continues to stand
as the Prince of Peace,
as the Defender of all that is human.
The
Gospel of the Eight Beatitudes is nothing other than a defence
of what is most profoundly
human, of what
is most beautiful in human beings, of what is holy in
them:
"How
happy are the poor in spirit...
Happy
the gentle...
Happy
those who mourn...
Happy
the merciful...
Happy
the pure in heart...
Happy
are those who are persecuted in the
cause of right...
Happy
are you when people abuse you and persecute you and speak all kinds of calumny against
you on my
account...this is how they persecuted the prophets before you".
The
Gospel of the Eight Beatitudes is a
constant reaffirmation of what is
most profoundly human, of what is heroic in human beings.
The Gospel of the
Eight Beatitudes is firmly linked to the cross and the resurrection
of Christ.
It is only in the light of the cross and the resurrection that what
is
human and heroic in human beings will recover its strength and its power. No form of historic
materialism can
give it either a foundation or
a
warrant. Materialism can only question, diminish, trample underfoot, destroy,
shatter that which is most profoundly human.
The
Gospel of the Eight Beatitudes
is,
at its very
roots, tied to the Mystery,
to the reality of
the Redemption of the world.
Indeed
the reality of the Redemption of the
world is the sole basis for the Beatitudes, and more particularly of
those two
which are so very important
amidst the dangers of our
time:
"Happy
those who hunger and thirst for
justice..."
"Happy
the peacemakers..."
Awareness
of redemption touches in its depth
the heart of those who are
tormented by the threats
now facing the world.
If
we can accept the Gospel of the
Beatitudes of Christ we will not be afraid
to
face up to these threats.
The
moral conscience of humanity is discovering, by various means,
the bond that exists between
justice and
peace. We should do everything necessary so that this
consciousness, recovered
at the price of immense sacrifice
since
World War II, will not be submerged anew by the
spread of violence.
Contemporary
men and women, nations,
humanity, seek untiringly the ways which lead to justice and peace. Unceasingly
the Church participates in
this
great task.
Particular
churches and episcopates share in this effort, as does the Holy See. It
is a
human, Christian and apostolic duty.
Pope
John XXIII addressed a remarkable appeal
to the world in his Encyclical Pacem in Terris. There he
analyzed at
length the conditions for peace,
and he invited us to
become artisans of peace and justice in all the spheres in which the
human
community acts.
In
its turn, the Second Vatican Council,
when it considers the place of
the
Church in the context of the modern world, again takes up this
reflection;
it asks us to safeguard peace and to
build up the community of nations
(Gaudium
et Spes, II, V).
Pope
Paul VI did not cease to act in that
sense. To the General Assembly
of the United Nations he issued this prophetic cry: "War never
again"! He emphasized the links between peace and the development of
peoples, of which I have spoken a few days ago in Edmonton. Paul VI
also instituted
the World Day of Peace on January
1. From that time on, at the beginning
of each year, all are
called to prayer and action for
peace; it is the occasion for
the Pope to
renew his appeals to all people, so that they may opt for peace and
take the
necessary steps to overcome tensions and to dispel growing
dangers.
Shortly
after my election, I was able to
answer the invitation of the United Nations and to assure the
international
community not only that the Apostolic
See supports their
efforts but that "the Catholic Church in every place on earth proclaims a message of
peace, prays for peace, educates
for peace" (Discourse to the 34th General Assembly of the United
Nations Organization, October 2, 1979, No. 10).
Today,
I renew my appeal. For, we know that,
after the world war, tensions
and confrontations
have not ceased, that they provoke wars which, while localized, are no less
murderous. And we know that the sources of the conflicts are found wherever
injustice kills,
or wherever the dignity of
people is
scoffed at. To build peace we must establish justice.
What
moral conscience could resign itself, without reacting, when there exist "frightful disparities
between excessively rich individuals and groups on the one
hand, and on
the other hand the majority made up of the poor
or indeed of the destitute..." (ibid., No. 18)?
What
moral conscience could resign itself to superficial
arrangements which cover
injustice, as long
as somewhere on the planet man is wounded "in his most personal
belief, in his view of the world, in his religious faith, and
in the
sphere of what are known as civil liberties" (ibid.. No. 19)?
Will
we be peacemakers hungering for justice
if we consent without reacting to "the breathtaking spiral of
armaments..." presented as being "at the service of world peace"
(ibid No. 22), while the arms race is a real
threat of death and while its ecomonic cost deprives so many countries of the effective means for their
development?
Our
duty remains urgent at this time. We shall
be peacemakers if our conscience
makes us aware of the dangers, energetic to winning acceptance for
dialogue and
sharing, attentive to respecting the point of view of others at the
same moment
that we defend our own rights, faithful to love for
humanity, and receptive to the Gift of God!
We
shall be disciples of Christ and true
brothers and sisters among ourselves
if together we take
our part in the thrust of civilization which for
centuries has been in one direction: that of guaranteeing "the objective rights of the spirit, of
human
conscience and of human creativity,
including man's relationship with God" (ibid., No. 19). We shall be
peacemakers if all our action is
based on respect for the One who calls
us to
live according to the law of his Kingdom, and from whom all power comes (cf. Jn 19:11).
In
this way, therefore, one cannot permit the
moral conscience of humanity
to give in to violence. It is necessary to maintain that close link
which
unites peace and justice, peace and the defense of the inviolable
rights of
individuals and of nations!
It
is necessary to protect people from death
- millions of people -from
nuclear death
and death
from starvation. It is necessary to protect from
death all that is human!
With
this intention, today our prayer for justice and peace rests
upon the Gospel of the Eight Beatitudes.
In
a word what does this Gospel proclaim? Let
us read it one more time:
"How
happy are the poor in spirit:
theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Happy
the gentle: they shall have the earth
for their heritage.
Happy
those who mourn: they shall be
comforted.
Happy
the merciful: they shall have mercy
shown them.
Happy
the pure in heart: they shall see
God.
Happy
the peacemakers: they shall be called
children of God.
Happy
those who are persecuted in the cause of
right: theirs is the kingdom
of heaven.
Let
us allow ourselves to be seized by the
Spirit of Christ. May he fill
us
with the truth of these words, with the power of the love that inspires
them! May our prayer enable us not
only to seek peace, but to bring
our will into harmony
with the will of God as it is revealed to us by Christ. For peace among people will
always be precarious if we are not
at peace with God, if we
do not
conform ourselves in our most inner being to the plan of God for the history of the
world. May our justice be the reflection of his justice! Recognizing
our
sinfulness, let us allow God to reconcile
us with himself, the author of life, and, at the same time, with our
brothers and sisters. This reconciliation, which we cannot fully realize by ourselves, we shall attain
by grace if
we faithfully unite ourselves to the immense supplication of
those who
pray.
In
a word, then, what does the Gospel of the
Eight Beatitudes proclaim?
It
says that the poor in spirit, the gentle, the merciful, those
who hunger and thirst for justice, the peacemakers - all these are
invincible! It says that the
final
victory belongs to them! To them belongs the Kingdom of Truth, of
Justice,
of Love and of Peace! May their weakness, their difficulty in
surmounting what divides and opposes not deject them. Human forces are
not
enough to apply the Gospel, but the strength of Christ permits the
purification
and the conversion of hearts, for he gave himself so that humanity
might
possess his peace!
And
it is this perspective which Christ by his Gospel and Redemption
has truly opened up to those who practise his Beatitudes.
Hear
me you, who in various parts of the
world suffer persecution in the
cause
of Christ,
you the poor suffering from
oppression and injustice as if
you were
daily being ground into dust by those systems which crush humanity!
We
say that Christ is Wonder-Counsellor.
We
say that Christ is Prince-of-Peace.
We
say that Christ is the crucified and risen one.
"Dominion
is laid on his shoulder".
establishes
and makes secure in justice and integrity" (Is
9:6)
Conférence
des évêques catholiques du Canada