The Heart of the Matter

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem

Psalm 122 tells us, "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem."  All these centuries after the psalm was written and still there is no peace there.  Now, however, there is yet another opportunity for peace.  So, "pray for the peace of Jerusalem."  Once when I was in Jerusalem during the 2000 intifada I got to spend an all night vigil in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.  In one of my meditations that night, with the tension of war being palpable, I wondered before the Lord why Jerusalem was the epicenter for so much hostility over the centuries.  I was in the very spot where Jesus was crucified, died, was buried and rose from the dead.  In that spot the ways of God met the ways of man, and crucifixion and resurrection were the result.  Let us pray this year that the values of the Kingdom of God, which are so very contrary to the values of this world, will produce a favorable answer to the psalmist's command to "pray for the peace of Jerusalem."

A Thanksgiving Reflection: "Development is the new name for peace"

As we prepare our Thanksgiving Day Dinners and think about our abundant blessings, let's turn our minds to those who are not so blessed. 

40 years ago Pope Paul VI appealed to all people of good will to hear the cries of the world's poor and suffering people, not to feel bad about our blessings but to do what each one can, and especially what governments can do, to assist those who live in misery to move towards "the possession of necessities, the acquisition of culture, cooperation for the common good, the acknowledgment by man of supreme values, and of God, their source and finality." 

Pope Paul wrote about the immense challenge before the human race in his first encyclical after the conclusion of the Second Vatican Council, which taught that the Church must serve the world and share in "the joys and hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the people of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ."

In this encyclical, The Development of Peoples, he predicted that the inequality in the world between the rich and the poor would lead to, well, would lead to terrorism and more and more war.  He taught that the root cause of world conflicts is poverty; and he advocated doing whatever individuals and nations can do to encourage development for the developing countries of the world where the poor are concentrated.  In his words, "development is the new name for peace."

We might ask, "What can I do?  One thing we all can do is to think more globally, and think more compassionately, especially when we prepare in the months ahead to make our choices in next year's election.  There is an ever growing chasm between rich and poor nations; and those who are involved in global businesses must see that inequity with their own eyes.  Pope Paul VI taught 40 years ago that this growing disparity tempts the poor to violence and revolution as possible solutions.

On this Thanksgiving let us rejoice and be grateful for our blessings, but let us also ask the Lord to bring us to a conversion of heart, especially in our willingness to share any superfluous wealth we may have.  As Paul VI taught about the rich:  "Otherwise their continued greed will certainly call down upon them the judgment of God and the wrath of the poor, with consequences no one can foretell."