Pray for Peace

By Fr. Gregory Hartmayer, OFM Conv.

(Homily Given during a “Mass for World Peace” – April 30, 2003)

When I was in college, I enjoyed studying literature, and in studying literature, we were to determine the conflict or conflicts that were apparent in a particular piece of literature.  We learned that there were four conflicts that were inherent in all literature.  There is the conflict between man and nature; there is the conflict between man and God; the conflict between man and man; and fourthly, the conflict between man and himself.

In the fourth chapter of the first book of the Bible, we read the first recorded account of a story that reflects those conflicts – Genesis, Chapter 4:  “Cain said to his brother Abel, ‘Let us go out in the field.’  When they were there in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.  Then the Lord asked Cain, ‘Where is your brother Abel?’  He answered, ‘I do not know.  Am I my brother’s keeper?’”

Cain’s jealousy of his brother Abel, was not only an example of man’s inhumanity to man, but it was also demonstrative of a conflict between man and God, and between man and himself.  You see, Cain was so jealous…he was so obsessed with his brother, and so angry with God, that he couldn’t even stand himself.  And so he lashed out at his brother, believing that if he eliminated his brother, he would eliminate the cause of his jealousy, when, in fact, after he killed his brother Abel, not only did he not resolve the conflict between himself and his brother, but he created a bigger conflict – between himself and God, and within himself.

And then there came the conflict between Cain and nature.  The following is another excerpt from Chapter 4: “The Lord said to Cain, ‘What have you done?!  Listen: your brother’s blood cries out to me from the soil!  Therefore, you shall be banned from the soil that opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. If you till the soil, it shall no longer give you its produce.  You shall become a restless wanderer on the earth.’”  I think that the perfect antonym for peace can be found in the person of Cain…restlessness.  The opposite of peace is restlessness.

We have come here tonight to pray for peace.  Peace is a word in the English language that we use to describe so many of our human experiences.  We say that peace is the “absence of war”; we say that we are “at peace” when we make a decision or a choice with which we are comfortable; we wish each other “Peace” at Mass as we offer one another a “Sign of Peace”; and we pray that a person who has died may “rest in peace”.  In the Spanish language, there is a word – “tranquilidad”.  It’s a beautiful word.  It literally means “to be tranquil”…to be “at peace”…to enjoy “peace and quiet”. 

We are praying for peace tonight: peace in our world – peace in our country – peace in our county – peace in our parish – peace in our families – and peace in our hearts.  We often pray and often sing that we may become instruments of peace, but you see, peace is not an end – it’s not a goal.  Peace is what we are to be, here and now.  We are to be peace…we are to be instruments of peace…we are to be messengers of peace…we are to be peace itself.

Without peace in our hearts, we will experience the restlessness of Cain.  We will seek to disrupt…we will seek to destroy and conquer, because we begin to believe that our restlessness can be satisfied by acquiring, by conquering, by possessing, by controlling.  This need to own and control is a result of our own restlessness and the lack of tranquility in our lives.  It is essentially a result of sin.

This tension, this restlessness, is manifested in our conflicts with other people…with nature…with God…and with ourselves.  It’s a terrible way to live – to be restless, to be uneasy – and the real sadness is that we were created not to live in conflict.  God created us to be happy.  God created us to experience peace.  He created us to live in harmony with one another and with creation, but look at what we have done.  Look back at the history of humanity and see how we have dealt with the conflicts that have been a part of our life…a part of our history…the conflicts that we have had with nature, the conflicts that we have had with God, the conflicts that we have had with one another, the inner turmoil resulting from the conflicts that we have had with ourselves.  You see, sin and selfishness brought disharmony and darkness into the world, and instead of living in a “culture of life”, we are living in a “culture of death”.  We have become suspicious of one another, and we deceive one another with lies.  The Devil is the Prince of Darkness and he is the Father of Lies.

Throughout biblical history, we are constantly reminded of God’s unconditional love for us, and in spite of our rejection of God, in spite of our sinfulness, God continues to love us.  We are reminded in the third chapter of John, that God so loved the world that He sent His only Son to redeem it.  He loves us that much, and he sent the Prince of Peace, who willingly took on our sinfulness, and died on the cross so that we might have eternal life…so that we might have eternal peace.

Peace is not an end…it is not a goal.  It is something that we are to be.  We must become peace in order to work for peace.  We must become peace to really be able to share peace.  We remember those tonight who work for peace.  We remember those who have died for peace.  We remember those who preach peace, and those who live peace.

On Pentecost Sunday, the Risen Lord entered the Upper Room and said to the eleven fearful apostles, “Peace be with you…receive the Holy Spirit.”  We pray tonight that it is the Holy Spirit that fills our hearts…that it is the peace of the Lord that we receive at this table, this Eucharist, and that we begin in an even greater way this Easter season as we celebrate the Resurrection of Christ and our own salvation, that we become bearers of peace, and that we live the peace that we pray for, and we share the peace that we have received in the Word of God and in the sacraments.

And so, we pray, “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.  Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy.  O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood, as to understand; to be loved, as to love; for it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning, that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.” 

God love you and God bless you.