and hostility.
It is quite possible that we may live in a situation where there is no
Topic: PRAY FOR WORLD PEACE AND PARTICIPATE IN
CHRIST’S MISSION AND MINISTRY
Text: John 14:27; 20:21
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as
the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be
afraid” (Jn. 14:27)
“Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me,
so I send you” (Jn. 20:21)
Propositions:
In this homily I will expound the following proposition:
1. That peace from the standpoint of the Bible means the existence of right
relationship;
2. That to pray is to move the person who prays to actualize what is prayed
for; and
3. That it is the calling of every Christian to participate in Christ’s Mission and
Ministry.
Introduction:
Today, as we are gathered for the Conference Dedication of Coins we are
summoned to do two very important actions: First, To pray for world peace; and
Second, To participate in Christ’s Mission and Ministry.
As Filipinos, we share our country’s aspiration that peace may reign supreme in
our beautiful land. And as Filipino Christians (because we are Filipinos first before
we became Christians), we are called to participate in Christ’s Mission and Ministry.
Body:
A. THE PEACE THAT WE ARE TO PRAY FOR IN BEHALF OF THE
WORLD:
The peace we are to pray in behalf of the world in general and of our
country in particular is not simply the peace characterized by the absence of conflict
conflict and hostility, yet there is no peace.
For instance, during Jesus earthly ministry the world enjoyed peace brought about
by the Roman Empire. It was popularly known as “Pax Romana.” There was no
conflict nor hostility so alarming in magnitude and national in scope that would cause
anxiety and distress to the entire population. All countries under the Roman yoke
were given relative independence and enough democratic space. Every country was
free to engage in trade and commerce (the ancient version of globalization) made
possible by technological advances (the construction of the famous Appian and
Flaminian Ways so much so that easier transportation, communication and faster
mobilization of military forces were made possible).
Indeed, there was peace, but how was that peace maintained? It was maintained
by the Roman sword (“gladi” – the two-edged sword, then the most modern weapon
of death invented by Rome). Military bases were established in foreign lands; one of
these was in Caesarea Philippi in the Holy Land. Its main task was to protect the
interest and security of the Empire and to ensure the unhampered flow of trade and
commerce to the benefit of the Empire and its allies while causing untold misery and
suffering to poor countries. Any national movement that would threaten the security
of the Empire and its economic interest was ruthlessly crushed by the fury of its
superior military might.
Given this situation, who would blame the Jewish political and religious leaders
for failure to oppose, resist and openly condemn such an unjust condition? These
leaders preferred to keep the peace that the Romans imposed on them for fear of
being crushed to the ground. They opted not to act to change the situation in the name
of peace. For such actions were they not in effect piled trouble after trouble that made
true and lasting peace impossible to exist? They adopted a policy similar to that of
British Prime Minister Arthur Neville Chamberlain’s policy of appeasement toward
Hitler to prevent the outbreak of the Second World War. But war broke and lives of
millions of innocent victims were unnecessarily sacrificed because of failure to act.
Certainly, it is not the peace that is free from conflict and hostility that we are
called to pray in behalf of our country and the whole world. For why are we to pray
for this kind of peace if it is maintained by force and violence?
The peace that we ought and must pray for in behalf of the world is the peace
that Jesus, our Lord bestowed and blessed His disciples. Our Lord, before He faced
His agonizing death on the cross said to His disciples:
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the
 world gives.”
In this statement Jesus was categorically saying that the peace that He gives
differs from what the world gives. The peace that the world gives is based on force,
but the peace that Jesus gives is based on justice and mercy that caused the existence
of right relationship between persons, and between communities of nations. Where
justice and mercy prevail there exist right relationship. And where there is right
relationship there is peace. Absence of conflict and hostility is seen as the fruit justice
and mercy.
|In the Old Testament justice, mercy and peace are inseparable. In Psalms 85:10 we
read:
“Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each
other.”
In the Book of Isaiah 32:16-20 the Prophet speaks of peace as the effect of justice.
It is the peace anchored on justice and mercy that ensures the welfare and the highest
good for all. It is the peace that gives physical, moral and spiritual wholeness to all. It
is this peace that Jesus, the Prince of Peace and the Jews termed SHALOM that we
are called to pray in behalf of the world and our country
B. WHAT IT MEANS FOR US CHRISTIANS TO PRAY FOR WORLD
PEACE:
The question that we may ask ourselves is: How are we to pray for
the peace of the world and for our country?
.
We might be misled to think that prayer is the verbal or mental
articulation before God of our “soul’s sincere desire,” beseeching God to do the
thing for us. Prayer that led us to inaction and passiveness is not prayer at all.
Prayer should and ought to lead us to action.
Look at some Bible personalities like, Moses, Jeremiah, Daniel and Hannah;
they were all persons of prayer. What do we see from them? Where did prayers
lead them? Prayers inspired them to action. Prayers prepared them for action.
Prayer made them courageous to act. This we also see from the apostles as
recorded in Acts 4:31. Thus, we can rightly say that in the light of the Bible
prayer and action are inseparable. Prayerful persons are persons full of action.
What does this mean to us as we are enjoined to pray for world peace?
First, we must be aware of the world’s condition as well as our country’s
situation. Why do conflicts and hostilities exist in almost all corners of the
world? Today, the U.S. is almost bent to wage war against Iraq. In our country
decades of fratricidal strife continue especially in Mindanao. Labor unrest among
industrial workers remains unresolved. Landless farmers remain chained in
bondage of poverty and destitution. Housewives are in great distress because of
the growing cost of living that made it doubly difficult for them to manage their
households. Why do these things continue to happen? What do these things
indicate? It is imperative on our part as Christians to know the answers to these
questions before we attempt to pray for peace. Then and only then will our
prayers become meaningful and relevant.
Second, we must be ready to act on the bases of biblical understanding of
peace and prayer. If we are to pray for peace we must be ready to participate in
bringing about justice and mercy to prevail in our Philippine society. We ought
not to confine ourselves in the verbalization of our prayer for peace. We must act.
We must be fully committed to actualize it.
St. Anselm in his understanding of Christian prayer exhorted the faithfuls by
saying:
“Pray as if everything depends on God but work as if
everything depends on
you.”
If we prayer for peace, let us work for it by participating in the cause of justice
and mercy.
Prayer that does not lead us to action is to misunderstand the very essence of
Christian prayer. If we are to pray for peace then led us be ready to be
“peacemakers”not simply “peacekeepers” or “peacelovers.” Let us follow the
example of St. Francis of Assisi as he prayed his beautiful prayer:
“Lord, make me an instrument of Thy 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, let me 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; it is in dying that we are born to
eternal life.”
C. OUR CHRISTIAN CALLING: PARTICIPATE IN CHRIST’S MISSION
AND MINISTRY
Christians are called for specific task. When Jesus called His first
disciples He told them that they will become fishers of men. Jesus spent three years
of His earthly life to train them for this specific task. So when He was about to
ascend into heaven He blessed them with peace and immediately told them:
“As the Father has sent me, so send I you.” (Jn. 20”21b)
As Filipino Christians we are called to participate in Christ’s mission and ministry
in the context of our Philippine situation conflicts and hostilities are the order of the
day; where justice is denied to the poor and mercy is withheld to the homeless and
landless Filipinos. It is in this context that we are to fulfill our Christian calling.
If Christ’s mission is to bring peace we ought to participate and share in this
mission. If Christ in the fulfillment of mission offered His own life, we too must be
willing to lay down our lives as we participate in that mission. We might say that it is
a tall order for us. Indeed, it is. But we cannot choose our mission, neither can we
change or modify it. Jesus categorically stated that “as the Father has sent me, so
send I you.” His mission is our mission, His ministry our ministry. This is our calling.
Definitely, our least, biggest, loved and aged coins we are about to dedicate are
ways by which we participate in Christ’s mission and ministry. Through these we are
able to provide scholarship to poor but intelligent youth of poor families. Through it
we may be able to provide additional funds to some community-based income
generating projects. Certainly, all these efforts deserve commendation. Our coins will
go a long way to uplift the condition of the recipients of our assistance.
However, the magnitude of our condition as a nation challenges us Christians in
general and UCCP members in particular to “cast our net into the deep.” This means
We ought to immerse ourselves with the hope and aspirations, struggle and sufferings
of our people. This would mean that while we continue doing our traditional
ministries like providing scholarship assistance, financial support to community
projects, and medical missions; we must dare to explore non-traditional ministries
like
providing solidarity support to the struggle of our industrial workers just wage and
better working conditions. We must join to strengthen the voice of the landless
farmers in their struggle for genuine land reform; We must immerse ourselves with
small Filipino entrepreneurs in their struggle against globalization and its evil effects
to our national culture and patrimony.
CONCLUSION
We are living in a very dangerous situation. Our period is very critical in our
national survival.
Let us therefore seize the opportunity as Filipino Christians. As we are summoned
to pray for peace, let us make a strong resolve to actualize it first in our personal life.
As we pray for peace, let us remind ourselves of a line of a hymn for peace that says
“Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.”
Let us act resolutely, confident that God will provide us strength and courage to
do it and that God will not let us fail as we participate in His Mission and Ministry.
Let us be courageous like Abraham Lincoln when he led the American people in
their historic move to emancipate the Negroes from the shackle of slavery. Aware of
the peril of his crusade Lincoln made this statement:
“Die when I may, I would like it to be said of me, that I
always pulled up a weed
and planted a flower where I thought a flower would
grow.”
Let us once more hear the words of Jesus when He said “Peace be with you. As
the Father has sent me, so send I you.” Amen.:
(Homily delivered by Rev. Celso I. Saliendra before the delegates to
the NSTC Dedication of Coins held at the UCCP, Real, Quezon on
Sept. 28, 2002)