by Leela Ramdeen, Chair, CCSJ and Director, CREDI
Over the past few years, the CCSJ has taken the lead to organise activities for Respect For Life Week. In order to ensure that society is aware of the broad pro-life view of our Church, the week will now be known as: Justice, Peace and Community Week (JPCW).
The week will run from Saturday, October 24 to Saturday, October 31, 2015. We are giving early notice of this Archdiocesan event so that the entire Catholic community can join in: reflecting on what our Church teaches about this theme, planning activities, and praying for the success of the Week.
Last week I listened to the lyrics of a Peter Tosh song:
“Everyone is crying out for peace, yes
None is crying out for justice…
I don’t want no peace
I man need equal rights and justice…”
In his message for World Day of Peace 1972, Pope Paul VI said: “If you want peace, work for justice.” In his World Day of Peace message 2002, St Pope John Paul II reminded us that there is “no peace without justice”, but he added that there is “no justice without forgiveness”. He continued: “My reasoned conviction, confirmed in turn by biblical revelation, is that the shattered order cannot be fully restored except by a response that combines justice with forgiveness. The pillars of true peace are justice and that form of love which is forgiveness.”
Years before, in 1963, St Pope John XXIII had stated in his encyclical Peace on Earth that there are four pillars of peace: truth, justice, love and freedom. ‘Forgiveness’ is now the fifth pillar of peace.
In his Peace Message for 2003, St Pope John Paul II stated:
Truth will build peace if every individual sincerely acknowledges not only his/her rights, but also his/her own duties toward others.
Justice will build peace if in practice everyone respects the rights of others and actually fulfils his/her duties toward them.
Love will build peace if people feel the needs of others as their own and share what they have with others, especially the values of mind and spirit that they possess.
Freedom will build peace and make it thrive if, in the choice of the means to that end, people act according to reason and assume responsibility for their own actions…peace lies in the defence and promotion of basic human rights, which every human being enjoys, not as a benefit given by a different social class or conceded by the state, but simply because of our humanity”.
Read Zenit about what Pope Francis said in his morning homily on June 11 about the three characteristics of true Christian witness. Inter alia, he said the faithful must give witness in three ways: “Journey, as a sending off to announce [the Gospel]; Service – the life of a Christian is not for himself but for others, as was the life of Jesus;” and “Freely.”
“If his life is not for service, there is no point in living the Christian life…,” the Pope said, stressing true disciples serve others, especially the marginalised (www.zenit.org).
In a world in which selfishness and individualism threaten to overwhelm us, remember that building community involves working to promote the common good, which St Pope John XXIII defined as “the sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their fulfillment more fully and more easily” (Peace on Earth 55). St Pope John Paul II said this about the common good: “Ultimately, it demands a correct understanding of the dignity and the rights of the person” (The Hundredth Year, 47).
The common good also involves respecting God’s gift of creation.
“Community” is a key social justice principle which reminds us that the human person is both sacred and social. We realise our dignity and rights in relationship with others, in community.
As the election campaign heats up, remember that we are one human family. Let us stand in solidarity with each other and reject any attempts to divide us. On May 1, 2014, Pope Francis wrote: “Ask everyone with political responsibility to remember two things: human dignity and the common good.”
Indeed, our Catechism tells us to remind “those in power to use their authority to serve the poor and vulnerable, build up the common good, and respect human life and dignity” (1902–1903). By voting, we can share our Christian vision of society and help to build a culture of life.
