Marshallans | Noble Order

Theme: Peace and Reconciliation. The scriptural readings of today stress both the need and the difficulty of preaching the message of truth, peace, and reconciliation. Modern man seems to be alienated from God, from his neighbor, from nature, and even from himself. One of our important tasks is to try to recover this lost harmony.

God has reconciled himself with humanity in Jesus despite human sin. Unity is a gift of God to man, who should mirror that grace in words and deeds of peace and reconciliation.

Introduction: Reflection on our personal and communal experience shows us that disunity and enmity are characteristic of human life in this our 21st century. There is disruption between man and nature. In subduing the earth, man is gradually destroying the world of nature in which he lives and on which he depends. Man frequently finds himself at odds with himself in a highly complex, technological world. The disunity within him is reflected, furthermore, in the relationship of man to man. “Man’s inhumanity to man” is no empty phrase. The rupture between man and God is the most unfortunate of all. Millions say that God does not exist. Still others admit God’s existence, but deliberately exclude him out from their daily lives. Even more millions find God quite absent from their world and their lives: he is just not to be found anywhere, as far as they are concerned.

Point 1: God’s plan for man is peace and reconciliation. From the Scripture, we know that God intended that there should be an intimate harmony between himself and humanity. Not only did God give man all the gifts of creation, but he also gave himself. Humankind was one with its creator. Within man himself there was also a unity of ends and means. Man knew who he was, a creature, and how he could remain so, by loving worship of the creator in word and deed. Between man and man, God intended a harmony which reflected man’s own internal unity. And for man, nature was to be a continuing delight and inspiration, never a rival, a threat, an unwilling captive.

Point 2: Man’s sin has destroyed the unity willed by God. Through his disobedience, man effectively exiled God, and, in turn, was himself exiled. With that fateful decision against God, man becomes his own worst enemy, a stranger to himself, a wanderer without purpose, alienated, distraught, confused. Brother was set against brother, mother against son, father against daughter, tribe against tribe, national against nation. Hatred, lust, greed, envy, despair became man’s constant companions, while the world itself seemed caught up in a sort of communal madness. Nor did man stop there, for he plundered, pillaged, raped and devastated nature so that the earth convulsed and groaned under his murderous hand. Indeed, in the words of Jeremiah, there is “terror on every side”.

Point 3: To restore the unity destroyed by man’s sin, Jesus, the Son of God, became man. In Jesus, God has reconciled man to himself and put man at peace with himself! As St. Paul notes, the second Adam has restored man to God and has undone the sin of the first Adam. Jesus’ perfect obedience to his Father has completely counteracted the willful disobedience of Adam.

Conclusion: Like Jeremiah and the first Christian missionaries, modern Christians are charged with preaching the Good News of salvation, unity, peace, and reconciliation to the whole world. Yet, as with all prophets, opposition, persecution, perhaps even death will be the lot of many. In order to avoid becoming themselves a scandal to the world, Christians must continually examine and renew themselves within the Spirit. Only then will they bring others to a true acknowledgement of God.

QUESTIONS THAT MAY LEAD TO OTHER THOUGHTS / REFLECTIONS / DISCUSSION

In the Christian message, peace is not merely the absence of war. Ultimately, of course, it presupposes that presence within and among men of a positive principle of life and unity which is none other than the divine life to which the Church bears witness, of which Christ in His Church is the source. The soul, then of a peaceful society is divine charity. But justice, the great concern of a well-ordered state, the justification for its existence, is the foundation of the organized society. Therefore, peace cannot be reduced solely to the maintenance of a balance of power between enemies; nor is it to be brought about by dictatorship, whether this be the imposition of the sheer will of a ruler, a party or even a majority. It is an enterprise of justice and must be built up ceaselessly in seeking to satisfy the all-embracing demands of the common good. This has been point of the Church positive, dynamic concept of peace: the modern word for peace is development. Peace therefore presupposes the fraternal confidence which manifests itself in a firm determination to respect other persons and peoples, above all their human dignity, and to collaborate with them in the pursuit of the shared hopes of mankind.

Today as never before, in an era marked by such human progress, there is need for an appeal to the moral conscience of man. For the danger comes not from progress, nor from science – on the contrary, if properly utilized these could resolve man of the grave problems that beset mankind. The real danger comes from man himself, who has at his disposal ever more powerful instruments, which can be used as well for destruction as for the loftiest conquests.

Remember if a Christian is to speak out for Christ, then he must first listen; he must he in the secret place with Christ, that in the dark hours Christ may speak to him, and that in the loneliness Christ may whisper in his ear. No man can speak for Christ unless Christ has spoken to him; no man can proclaim the truth unless he has listened to the truth; for no man can tell that which he does not know.

Second, a Christian must speak what he has heard from Christ, and he must speak even if his speaking is to gain him the hatred of men, and even if, by speaking, he takes his life in his hands. The man with a message speaks to men, but he speaks in the presence of God. It was said of one Christian preacher, as they buried him, "Here lies one who feared God so much that he never feared the face of any man."

The Christian witness is the man who knows no fear; because he knows that the judgments of eternity will correct the judgments of time. The Christian preacher and teacher is the man who listens with reverence and who speaks with courage, because he knows that, whether he listens or speaks, he is in the presence of God.

The courage of the Christ’s witness is founded on the conviction that, whatever happens, he cannot drift beyond the love of God. He knows that his times are for ever in God's hands; that God will not leave him or forsake him; that he is surrounded for ever by God's care. If that is so—of whom then shall we be afraid?