Mr. Cardinal, dear brothers and sisters,<\/p>\n
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In this Eucharistic celebration of January 1st there are many elements that guide our reflection.<\/p>\n
We begin a new calendar year, 2020, and we want to ask the Lord that it be a year of serenity, for our country, for our families and for each of us, a year of peace, illuminated by the presence and guidance of the Lord.<\/p>\n
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Today is also the greatest feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary, because we celebrate her as Mother of God, which is her most important title and is the mission that the Lord has entrusted to her in history: to be the mother of the Son of God and to donate him to the world for the salvation of all. Let us then put the year that has just begun under its protection, under its gaze, since it is the contemplation of the Mother of God, who is also the mother of each one of us and loves us and accompanies us with a heart full of love.<\/p>\n
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Let us also remember that since 1967, Pope Saint Paul VI established that January 1st was \u201cThe World Day of Peace\u201d; an invitation to begin the new year praying for peace to grow in the world, also an invitation to the world powers, to those who govern the various countries, but also to each one of us, to always be builders of peace and reconciliation in the places where we live, starting especially with family relationships, because peace is also built in our homes.<\/p>\n
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I wanted to share with you some elements of Pope Francis’ Message for the celebration of this year’s World Day of Peace, which is titled: \u201cPeace as a path of hope: dialogue, reconciliation and ecological conversion.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Pope Francis, with reference to the situation in the world today, begins by saying that \u201cPeace, as the object of our hope, is a precious good, to which all humanity aspires.\u201d We hope in peace, because \u201chope is the virtue that sets us on our path, gives us wings to move forward, even when obstacles seem insurmountable.\u201d (N. 1). And it is true, what guides our paths, our ideals, our desire for peace, for reconciliation, for a better future, is the great virtue of hope.<\/p>\n However, we cannot ignore that the world in which we live bears, in memory and in the flesh, the signs of the wars and conflicts that have occurred and that continue to affect our history. Even today, – says Pope Francis – \u201cso many men and women, children and the elderly are denied dignity, physical integrity, freedom, including religious freedom, community solidarity, hope for the future\u201d (ibid.<\/em> ) Many conflicts and wars are present in our world.<\/p>\n So \u2013 Pope Francis himself asks \u2013 how to build a path of peace? How to break the logic\u2026 of threat and fear?<\/p>\n The Pope indicates a very clear goal: to build a path of peace we must build \u201ca true fraternity, which is based on our common origin in God and exercised in dialogue and mutual trust\u201d (ibid.<\/em>) , and proposes three paths that we have to follow: the path of listening, based on memory, solidarity and fraternity<\/em>, the path of reconciliation in fraternal communion<\/em>, and the path of ecological conversion<\/em>.<\/p>\n Pope Francis, after the recent trip to Japan, has in his mind and in his heart the survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, who keep alive the memory, the memory of those tragic events and affirms: \u201cLike them, many They offer future generations throughout the world the essential service of memory, which must be maintained not only to avoid making the same mistakes again\u201d (No. 2).<\/p>\n But there is another very important memory that we must keep alive in our hearts and that is the horizon of our hope: the gestures of generosity and love, because “many times, in the darkness of wars and conflicts, the memory of a small gesture of solidarity received can also inspire brave and even heroic choices\u201d (ibid.<\/em>).<\/p>\n Thus, concrete gestures of solidarity and fraternity build peace because the world \u201cdoes not need empty words, but convinced witnesses, artisans of peace open to dialogue without exclusion or manipulation. [\u2026] A convinced dialogue of men and women who seek the truth beyond ideologies and different opinions\u201d (ibid.<\/em>) in a common effort to build peace \u201calways seeking the common good.\u201d As Jos\u00e9 Mart\u00ed said: \u201cWith everyone and for the good of all.\u201d We cannot have illusions: peace is \u201ca constant commitment over time. It is patient work that seeks truth and justice\u201d (ibid.).<\/em><\/p>\n Pope Francis writes: \u201cThe Church participates fully in the search for a just order, and continues to serve the common good and nourish the hope of peace through the transmission of Christian values, moral teaching, and social and educational works.\u201d (ibid.)<\/em>.<\/p>\n Each of us has to ask ourselves: How do I look at my neighbor, my brother and sisters? Am I capable of gestures of generosity, love, solidarity to also be an artisan of peace?<\/p>\n It is important to \u201cabandon the desire to dominate others and learn to see ourselves as people, as children of God, as brothers\u201d (N. 3). Respect for others is the first step to living reconciliation, breaking the spiral of revenge and embarking on the path of hope.<\/p>\n With reference to the moment in which Jesus tells the apostle Peter that there is no need to calculate how many times one has to forgive one’s brother, because one must always forgive, Pope Francis also invites us to always search \u201cin the depths of our hearts.\u201d the strength of forgiveness and the ability to recognize ourselves as brothers and sisters. Learning to live forgiveness increases our capacity to become women and men of peace\u201d (ibid.<\/em>).<\/p>\n Also about this path, each of us has to ask ourselves if we know how to forgive, reconcile, and respect the other.<\/p>\n Faced with a growing \u201chostility towards others, the lack of respect for the common home and the abusive exploitation of natural resources\u2026\u201d (No. 4), the Pope makes us reflect that we need an ecological conversion, he invites us to contemplate, to look with eyes full of wonder and listening to creation, \u201cthe world that God gave us to make it our common home.\u201d In Holy Scripture it is clearly stated that God, the Creator, has entrusted us with \u201cnatural resources, numerous forms of life and the earth itself to be \u201ccultivated and preserved (cf. Gen<\/em> 2:15), also for future generations, with the responsible and active participation of each one\u201d (ibid.).<\/em><\/p>\n Ecological conversion means looking differently, with greater respect for nature, others and all creation, \u201cconsidering the generosity of the Creator who gave us the earth and who reminds us of the joyful sobriety of sharing. This conversion must be understood comprehensively, as a transformation of the relationships we have with our brothers and sisters, with other living beings, with creation in its rich variety, with the Creator who is the origin of all life\u201d (ibid.<\/em>). Knowing how to respect nature, knowing how to share the gifts of creation with our brothers and sisters, working for the common good against all selfishness, is a call to convert our way of living.<\/p>\n Let’s also reflect on our life, on our position towards nature, which is a gift from God, towards our brothers and sisters: do I need a conversion? Is there anything I can improve in my life?<\/p>\n Dear brothers and sisters, Pope Francis has given us many elements for reflection to begin in our lives, to be increasingly builders of peace and reconciliation. Certainly the path of reconciliation requires patience and trust. Even peace is not achieved if it is not expected, that is, we have to believe in the possibility of peace.<\/p>\n May Mary, Mother of the Prince of Peace and Mother of all the peoples of the earth, whom we venerate as Our Lady of Charity of Copper, accompany us and sustain us on the path of reconciliation and peace. Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mr. Cardinal, dear brothers and sisters, In this Eucharistic celebration of January 1st there are many elements that guide<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4387,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[166],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n\n
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