FRATERNITY, THE FOUNDATION AND PATHWAY TO PEACE
In my first Message for World Day of
Peace, I wish to offer to everyone, individuals and peoples, my best wishes
for a life filled with joy and hope. In the heart of every man and woman is the
desire for a full life, including that irrepressible longing for fraternity which
draws us to fellowship with others and enables us to see them not as enemies
or rivals, but as brothers and sisters to be accepted and embraced.
Fraternity is an essential human quality,
for we are relational beings. A lively awareness of our relatedness helps us to
look upon and to treat each person as a true sister or brother; without
fraternity it is impossible to build a just society and a solid and lasting peace. We should
remember that fraternity is generally first learned in the family. The family is
the wellspring of all fraternity, and as such it is the foundation and the first
pathway to peace, since, by its vocation, it is meant to spread its love to the
world around it.
We Christians believe that in the Church
we are all members of a single body, all mutually necessary, because each has
been given a grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ, for the
common good. Christ has come to the world so as to bring us divine grace, that
is, the possibility of sharing in his life. This entails weaving a fabric of fraternal relationships marked by
reciprocity, forgiveness and complete
self-giving, according to the breadth and the depth of the love of God offered to
humanity in the One who, crucified and risen, draws all to himself: “A new
commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you,
that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are my disciples,
if you have love for one another”. This is the good news that demands from each
one a step forward, a perennial exercise of empathy, of listening to the
suffering and the hopes of others, even those furthest away from me, and walking
the demanding path of that love
which knows how to give and spend itself
freely for the good of all our brothers and sisters.
Christ embraces all of humanity and wishes
no one to be lost. “For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the
world, but that the world might be saved through him”. He does it without
oppressing or constraining anyone to open to him the doors of heart and mind.
“Let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who
serves” – Jesus Christ says – “I am among you as one who serves”. Every
activity therefore must be distinguished by an attitude of service to persons,
especially those furthest away and less
known. Service is the soul of that
fraternity that builds up peace. May Mary, the Mother of Jesus, help us to
understand and live every day the fraternity that springs up from the heart
of her Son, so as to bring peace to each person on this our beloved earth
(excerpt .vatican.va )
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