SPIRITUAL LIFE COMMITTEE

Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity

Lenten Reflection: March 2003

 

A REFLECTION ON PEACE AND JUSTICE

Bro. Gerardo Oliva-Reyna, S.T.

 

When we talk of peace and justice, we are in fact talking of the Kingdom of God, understood not so much as a kingship but a banquet, an occasion of celebration and food-sharing.

The "kingdom of God" symbolizes God's own longings for humanity which imply peace, justice, solidarity, and above all, equality, which is love-the beginning and end of all things.

When the evangelists Luke and Matthew talk about the banquet, they take note of both those who were invited but who, for various reasons, rejected the invitation, as well as the poor and the rejects of society who were invited by force. Thus, the evangelists intimate that the banquet is for the marginalized, the poor and the street-dwellers and where the powerful and the famous hold no seat of honor.

Following the banquet image then, we say that as in all banquets, there must be a table. This table has for stages: peace, justice, solidarity and equality. These are the values on which the gospel stands. When one stage is missing, the table falls!

In the following we shall consider what sustains the legs of the banquet table.

First stage: The works of solidarity or integral justice (Mt 25: 31, ff) Matthew clearly emphasizes that the Kingdom of God is solidarity in praxis. It is taking the concerns of the less privileged as my own, carrying their pains as my pains, their struggle my struggles. The poor are those who are impoverished in material and spiritual things, the abandoned and outcasts. And it is to the Jesus present in them that we act or do not act for integral justice. Integral justice includes challenging the oppressive structures of society, naming and denouncing them and seeking for alternatives that assure the elimination of dehumanizing conditions

Second stage: A redeeming compassion (Lk 6:36) As in the Parable of the Prodigal Son, this kind of compassion is the Father's eagerness to recover his son, his generosity to give even if he knew that what he gave might be wasted, his willingness to forego the abuse done to his generosity, his not giving up on his son. This kind of compassion engenders dialogue and unity. Furthermore, in the Parable of the Good Samaritan, redeeming compassion is shown as a behavior of helping that acts beyond the realm of ideologies, religion and culture.

Third stage. Lack of understanding and persecutions. (Lk 4:14, Mk 8:34, and parallels) The lack of understanding, persecutions and the cross are the characteristic ways by which Jesus has chosen to lead us. As soon as Jesus is finished reading and expounding on Isaiah, his own neighbors and friends tried to throw his down the precipice! It is important to note that the persecution and lack of understanding came as a result of Jesus' solidarity with the poor, the blind, the lame, the imprisoned, with those in darkness. To act with compassion too often becomes itself the cross.

Fourth Stage. Love for oneself (Mt 19, 19) This evangelical value must be understood as the will to be transformed from all that we carry of the "old man." It entails the willingness to be rid of all our compulsive actions, the obsessive sense of guilt that carves death in ourselves and in others.

Because your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, because we are of God and made in God's image, we cannot hate ourselves. In fact we must also act justly upon our weaknesses, our hungers, insecurities and the prisons we ourselves have fashioned to suffocate us. If God is compassionate with us, we need to be compassionate with ourselves too.

As Missionary Servants, we have received as a legacy, a very rich and challenging charism that demands of us very specific and concrete ways of commitment to the poor.

Let us ask ourselves and one another how our missionary works and ministries express the Gospel values of peace and justice.

Reflection Questions:

1. What today are the challenges to peace and justice in your community? In what ways can we live and work amid these challenges as witnesses to a real Banquet of the Kingdom- where everyone has got a place?

2. Which one or several of the 4 stages- peace, justice, solidarity and equality- are we committed? How can we grow or become more effective in these commitments?

3. How is our self-esteem a departure-point for our love of fellows and those who need us?