Editor's note: This article was originally published on August 3, 2006.
As I write to you, the brutal fighting in the Middle East has reached its nineteenth day. Daily, we read news accounts or view televised footage of the death and destruction which is currently raging between Israel and Lebanon. We have just seen that 60 people, including many children, in the Lebanese village of Qana were killed by Israeli missiles during the early hours of Sunday morning. As the death toll rises on both sides, we acknowledge the tragedy of this war and we deplore the violence that results in such immense suffering and death.
On July 20, in his Angelus message, our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI declared: "In reality, the Lebanese have the right to see the integrity and sovereignty of their country respected, the Israelis have the right to peace in their State, and the Palestinians have the right to have their own free and sovereign homeland."
The statement of our Holy Father reflects the concern of the Catholic Church for all of the people " Lebanese, Israeli and Palestinian " who daily live under the threat of missiles, bombs and gunfire. All people long for a true and authentic freedom. But this freedom cannot be achieved by the use of destructive weapons. The path to freedom for the Middle East can be achieved through diplomacy, an openness to respect for persons of all ethnic and religious backgrounds, and for our part, through recourse to prayer and penance. The experience of history has already confirmed that a military solution is not possible. Military action is incapable of winning peace.
The history of the world is, in many ways, written in blood. So much of history relates the details of war for power, for religion, for wealth and for land. The 20th Century, marred and scarred by the horrific World Wars, by acts of genocide, by the advance of Nazism and Communism, was perhaps the most violent century in world history. The 21st Century, sadly, bears the wounds of terrorism. American soil, the soil of our allies, and the soil of the Holy Land have all been tainted by gruesome acts of wanton disregard for human life. When innocent people, particularly children, are victimized daily, we can no longer be mere sympathetic observers. We must become actively involved in working for peace through prayer, sacrifice and charity.
The Nature of Peace
Over 40 years ago, the Church promulgated Gaudium et Spes, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World of the Second Vatican Council. The vivid experiences of the war as well as the tension of the Cold War heightened the sensitivity of the Council Fathers to the prompting of the Holy Spirit in calling for peace. "Peace is more than the absence of war: It cannot be reduced to the maintenance of a balance of power between opposing forces nor does it arise out of despotic dominion, but it is appropriately called 'the effect of righteousness' (Is 32:17). Peace cannot be obtained on earth unless the welfare of man is safeguarded and people freely and trustingly share with one another the riches of their minds and their talents. A firm determination to respect the dignity of other men and other peoples along with the deliberate practice of fraternal love are absolutely necessary for the achievement of peace. Accordingly, peace is also the fruit of love, for love goes beyond what justice can ensure" (no. 78).
The teachings of Vatican II on peace reverberate in the face of the Middle East crisis. The tensions which have existed have escalated due to those who resort, not to peaceful negotiation or diplomacy, but rather to reprehensible acts of terror.
It is necessary for the United Nations swiftly to engage peace-keeping forces and to negotiate a ceasefire. It is necessary for men and women of good will to support those charitable organizations which bring relief, aid and hope to these war-ravaged countries. It is necessary for everyone to pray and to encourage a culture of peace which will counteract the current climate of violence and vengeance.
The Hungers of the Human Family
Thirty years ago, August 1976, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia was privileged to host the 41st International Eucharistic Congress. This universal celebration of the Church's love and need for our Eucharistic Lord, emphasized how Jesus, the Bread of Life, satisfies the Hungers of the Human Family. The Eucharistic Congress identified eight hungers of the human family, all of which speak to our contemporary and volatile era: Hunger for God; Hunger for Bread; Hunger for Freedom and Justice; Hunger for the Spirit; Hunger for Truth; Hunger for Understanding; Hunger for Peace; and Hunger for Jesus.
A longing for freedom and justice, for understanding, for truth, for bread, and for peace cannot be fulfilled or satisfied by bombs, missiles and other violent weapons. A distorted quest for the satisfaction of these desires has too long fueled the culture of violence in which we now find ourselves. Bread, justice, peace, freedom and truth can never be obtained by violent means. Rather, these will only be met through dialogue and through the mutual respect that is based on human dignity and the inviolable and God-given rights which each human being should enjoy.
This is particularly true in that land which we call "holy." We, as people of faith, who know and understand that we are children of God, are moved by a sense of urgency to see a true and lasting peace blossom in the Holy Land. This can only begin when we turn to Christ, whose footsteps bore the weight of the oppression of sin and violence, and whose lips announced a message of hope, of peace, and of mercy.
On this 30th anniversary of the historic 41st International Eucharistic Congress, I urge all of the faithful of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia to attend Mass devoutly and receive the Holy Eucharist for the intention of peace and an end to all violence (including the violence which currently stalks our own City of Philadelphia). I encourage the faithful who can to attend Mass and receive Holy Communion daily for the intention of peace. I ask the faithful, too, to offer Holy Hours of Eucharistic Adoration as well as to pray the Rosary for peace in the world, especially in the Middle East.
This moment in history is critical in the cause of peace. The violence which we view daily spurs us, not to despair, but to hope. While history has been written in blood, history continues to inspire within us a longing for something better, a fulfillment beyond ourselves, but in reality accessible within our hearts.
Our late beloved Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, in his last book, Memory and Identity, stated: "The deepest meaning of history goes beyond history and finds its full explanation in Christ, the God-man. Christian hope projects itself beyond the limit of time. The Kingdom of God is grafted onto human history, and there it grows, but its goal is the life to come. Humanity is called to advance beyond death, even beyond time, toward the definitive onset of eternity alongside the glorious Christ in the communion of the Trinity. 'Their hope is full of immortality' (Wis 3:4)."
