What can WE do?
As I write just before Easter our televisions are bringing us awful pictures of refugees from Kosovo and news of bombings and atrocities in the Balkans. Coming at Eastertide it seems as though the words of Jesus nearly two thousand years ago are needed more than ever; when dying on the Cross He said:
“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. He was, of course, referring to His own crucifixion but He might well say.the same thing about the killings going
on in the world today.
“What, we ask, “will it take to stop the violence and killing? Will people never learn?” It seems the answer is “No. Furthermore, although we may like to kid ourselves that this sort of thing only goes on in Kosovo, Africa, Ireland and so on it is always much closer to home than we realise. People are killed daily in Britain for no reason other than hate, anger and greed. People upset one another daily for no reason other than that we havent got the time and patience really to listen to one anothers point of view and talk the matter through to agreement without losing our tempers. We dont stop to care enough until it is too late. Peace, if it is to work – anywhere – has to start with you and me.
Just before He left His disciples Jesus said: “My peace I leave you, my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Let not your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid”. This was not some sugary sentimental goodbye on Jesus part but a promise that if we can accept that one man – Jesus – died to bring forgiveness of all our wrongs, then by following Him and His example we can know forgiveness for the things weve got wrong in the past and a chance to start again. He offers us the opportunity for a New Start with Gods help, in which He can then work through us towards peace in our world. Jesus didnt promise that God would wave some magic wand and make it all right, but He did promise that if we follow His example of love for God and love for all other people we would get there in the end.
So, how do we DO that? As I said earlier, it has to start at home. St Paul gave us characteristics to work towards in our lives as a starting point. Allow, he said, the Holy Spirit to produce in your lives love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 6). If youre a bit short on any of these pray that God will give you more of that quality and concentrate on developing it. Next, work on situations where you find you really cant get on with someone or you start to feel bad towards a national or international figure. Jesus said: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?” (St Matthew 6). Its a challenging command but it makes sense. God does not want difficult or evil people to suffer or die any more than He wants us to suffer or die if we do bad things. All people are loved by Him no matter how badly they live their lives. What He would much rather see is that they turn away from their badness, accept His love and forgiveness for them and start living a good life. We can, therefore, co-operate with God much more powerfully by praying for those who upset us or those who perpetrate suffering and violence by praying that Gods love will fill their hearts and turn their lives around. Of course we can give money to help others and we can work at peace in our own homes and lives, but at the end of the day world peace will only come with Gods help in changing peoples hearts. Lets pray fervently for
that! Angela Butler