By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK
Everyone longs for peace and suffers because of the absence of it. Whether a mother or father worried about the health and well-being of a child, whether the homeless poor, or those without work, or the lonely or the dying, all are in search of peace. Even those who enjoy everything the world can offer in terms of material goods and wealth still long for peace.
Peace, however, is not possible without a vital connection to its source. Peace is not something you can buy or sell, or something you can steal. Peace is a person with whom we must have a relationship because peace is Jesus Christ.
The recent unrest in Ferguson, Mo., points to the evil of avarice, the materialism that will break the law and endanger human life in order to steal or destroy private property. The desire of the human heart is infinite and when it seeks satiation in anything created it will never find rest. The lack of rest, the lack of peace which afflicts those who seek to live without God writes the story of the human race from the very beginning of creation.
St. Augustine famously nailed it by writing, “We are restless, O Lord, until we rest in Thee.”
After the violence and looting broke out in Ferguson during Thanksgiving week following release of the grand jury report which refused to indict the police officer who shot a man who had committed a robbery and sought to defend himself, many voices were raised begging for peace.
Archbishop Robert Carlson, ordinary of St. Louis, Mo., appealed to the basic goodness of human persons in his message, “Choose peace! Reject any false, empty hope violence will solve problems. Violence only creates more violence.”
Justice is not possible without God and the Godless law of an eye for an eye that raged in Ferguson following release of the grand jury decision invited only more of the same hatred that allegedly inspired it. Such blind rage threatens only to consume more human blood in its wake.
The same week, and nearly simultaneously with the unrest in Ferguson, Pope Francis made a whirlwind one-day visit to the European Parliament and appealed to the humanity of Europe, which has also turned aside from God in a race for a material luxury that cannot satisfy.
Francis reminded the elected representatives of a dying culture: “A Europe which is no longer open to the transcendent dimension of life is a Europe which risks losing its own soul.” He called on Europe to build once again upon its roots, which include the spiritual dimension, if it would continue to grow and flourish.
He used the very simple image of a tree to marshal the attention of his listeners and to move them to look to the future with confidence based upon a radical commitment to all of the human values that have historically enabled them to reach such cultural heights. Such roots have always included Europe’s Christian and Catholic heritage.
The coming once again of the season in which we prepare for and anticipate the real coming of God in our midst invites all of us to recommit ourselves to conversion. We are sent to bring Christ, who is peace, to our neighbors. We cannot, however, give what we do not have. Advent is our opportunity for a renewed coming of the Lord into our minds and hearts so that we might better seek the common good, service of the poor, and love of neighbor.
If Christ is Incarnate Peace and if we are truly people of the Eucharist, truly receiving Him in Communion as we do, then we are bearers of a great responsibility. As bearers of Christ by means of grace, we are sent by Him to be salt and light to the world, to be consistently faithful to justice and the common good in the public square as well as holiness in the call to salvation.
Our journey to deeper faith and love always begins with the Word of the Lord and so I end with John’s magnificent prologue:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him: and without him was made nothing that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”
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(Follow Fr. Cusick on Facebook at Reverendo Padre-Kevin Michael Cusick and on Twitter @MCITLFrAphorism. Father blogs occasionally at APriestLife.blogspot.com and mcitl.blogspot.com. You can email him at mcitl.blogspot.com@gmail.com.)
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