Paul VI once wrote that ‘if you want peace, work for justice.’

There is so much violence in our world and on all levels of life. What can we do to begin building a world for peace?

We need to work justly among our friends and enemies. We should begin by looking at what we ourselves. Gossip is, in the scripture, related to murder. Word violence against people ravishes their humanity, even unknowingly. Traffic violence is another way to increase injustice in the world. Making people suffer because we are anxious or afraid. Our bad mood is not someone else’s fault.

As citizens, we can also work for justice by being considerate of one another. Tolerance has become a misunderstood word. It is not silent opposition to other thoughts or opinions. Being tolerant calls us to dialogue openly in charity so we can reach God, the source of all Truth, together.

As citizens, we have a lot of violence to talk about, euthanasia, birth control, abortion, pre-emptive war, embryonic cloning, so much to talk about. But we will never be able to achieve true peace on earth if we just sit here and agree with each other about how to achieve it. We must get up, go out and actually do things differently than we did them yesterday.

We are obligated as Catholics to work in nonviolent ways for justice that begins to establish an authentic peace for ourselves and for our children. Charity, prayer, sacraments, forgiveness, compassion, these are tools for justice, the fruit of which is genuine peace.

Peace be with you!