Peace in a greedy world

           

 “Peace” is a big word these days, all over the world.  The word saturates media and the news, not because the world has learned to embrace the peace that the Risen Christ brings, but precisely because world powers pay mere lip service to His brand of peace.

             Although presidents, prime ministers, and kings swear allegiance to the cause of peace, war persists—ironically, in the name of peace.  Peace pacts and treaties continue to be signed, yet the arms industry keeps on churning out war weaponry, efficient killing machines that get more and more sophisticated with each new invention.  “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed”—these are sensible words from Dwight Eisenhower.  At best war brings a false peace; at worst, it makes murderers of men.  Either way, it is the deception that wins in war, not nobility of heart.

            In our own country, barely four months ago, we witnessed the ugly aftermath of a war that pits Filipinos against Filipinos and unsettles innocent civilians.  The botched Mamasapano operation cast aspersions on the president and his friend, the suspended PNP chief, and uncovered loopholes in the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) that point to bad faith and stealth in the contracting parties.  Mamasapano has been snowed under with one bad news after another, so that now it seems just like one faintly remembered nightmare; meanwhile, the BBL is being doggedly pushed by Malacanang.

            Why the rush?  Pray tell, who stands to benefit from a “peace agreement” that is apparently motivated by a desire for something other than true peace?  Is it worth pursuing a peace agreement that dubious assumptions have doomed from the start?  If the BBL were as commendable as its authors and promoters claim, why are there still so many voices reasonably opposing its passing?  That even the religious leaders seem divided on the issue makes one suspect they may be reading different versions of the draft.  How many versions are there, anyway?  The issue is yet wrapped in obscurity, but why is the Palace bent on passing it? 

            As of press time, a Senate hearing has revealed that the Sultanates were not consulted at all in the crafting of the BBL—what a monumental faux pas!  Again, why?  Don’t the Sultanates count at all in the peace process?  Passing the BBL will definitely affect the future not only of some Mindanao residents but also that of the whole country, so why exclude anybody?  Why were the sultanates ignored, and yet Malaysians have their fingers in the BBL pie.  Why?  If Government sincerely believes BBL is for the good of the country, the least it can do is to translate the BBL draft into the vernacular in order to be understood by every Filipino, especially the youth who will reap the effects of this “peace agreement”. 

          Truth to tell, I have never really believed politics alone can bring us peace.  As a citizen of this predominantly Catholic nation in Asia, though, I believe that faith in Jesus Christ can bring us peace.  All anomalies, injustices, chaos, tragedies—indeed, all the evils displacing peace in our midst stem from the fact that despite our Christian posturing, our leaders’ bumbling interventions prove that Christ is not in the equation.  Overly self-assured in their knowledge, power, and ability to control things, these leaders regard Christ as a superfluity in men’s affairs.

          How can faith in Jesus not bring about peace when Christ is Love?  And Love does not exclude the gentiles, the pagans, the sinners.  We must challenge ourselves—we may be baptized Christians but do we (as Sunday’s gospel Mt 28:16-20 says) observe all that Christ has commanded?  Lasting peace comes at a price, of course—and that is dying to our self in order to become authentic followers of Christ.  If it seems an impossible ideal, perhaps it is because we have yet to validate it in our own private microcosmos.

          Lasting peace is possible.  Humbly we seek Him, and in His promise find the courage to follow Him: “I am with you always, even to the end of the world.”  Christ’s peace is the only the peace we can trust and must desire, not the “peace” being peddled by the princes of a blind and greedy world.  And that’s the truth.

Gratitude: just good manners?

For The CBCP Monitor, by Teresa R. Tunay, OCDS

 One unforgettable discovery I made while living among the Muslims for a whole year in Egypt is their concept of gratitude.  It’s all enveloped in the phrase “Alhamdulillah” which means “Thanks be to God” or “Praise be to Allah.”  Our Egyptian friends (and even their small children) would utter it especially when thanking God for their blessings, but—as I observed—it wouldn’t be limited to blessings alone.  A cat scratches your leg when you step on its tail—Alhamdulillah!  You burn a dish you’re cooking— Alhamdulillah!  You hit your thumb while hammering in a nail on the wall—Alhamdulillah!

Why for goodness sake thank God for that which in another land or another culture would be called tough luck, clumsiness, or stupidity?  Simple—our highly educated friends would explain: “Alhamdulillah because it could have been worse”.

The startled cat could have bitten you, gashed a vein, given you rabies. Be thankful it is only a scratch.  Only the bottom of the dish is burnt, just scrape it off and eat the rest, thankful you didn’t burn whole kitchen.  Thumb hurting?  Thank God it’s only your thumb, and it’s still intact besides—what if it was smashed, along with the forefinger?  Still, Alhamdulillah!

Alhamdulillah may not make sense to you but it does have its value regardless of your religion—it teaches you to be calm as you take a lesson to be careful next time: if you want the universe to keep you from unnecessary harm, do have presence of mind.

This attitude common to all Arabic-speaking peoples has a parallel among the followers of Buddha who taught thus: “Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn’t learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn’t learn a little, at least we didn’t get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn’t die; so, let us all be thankful.”

As children we are taught to say Please, Sorry, and Thank You—the utterance of which is the hallmark of well-behaved, well-mannered children.  Thank You seemed the most often used in childhood, reflecting to a certain extent the kind of upbringing our parents gave us.  As adults we are delighted to see toddlers barely beginning to talk and yet are prompted, “What are you going to say?” whenever they are handed gifts or goodies.  And when children forget, they are reminded: “Say Thank You.”

But saying Thank You is not just a sign of good manners—it is the foundation of sound spirituality as well.  Having gratitude in our consciousness shows we take nothing for granted, for we realize that the origin of everything is a love that wills for our good.  Others may call it Force, Energy, Power, et al, but those who embrace its mystery do not hesitate to call it “God.”

When we recognize that we are created by God—that without God we could not have come to be and that this God loves us—we cannot but be grateful for everything we have and are.  Gratitude this deeply known and felt translates into real action that effects positive concrete results.  Take your body—if you regard your body as a gift from God, you express your gratitude by taking good care of the one and only body you have. You value good health, ergo you don’t abuse your body by introducing harmful substances to it (eat, drink, sniff, insert, inject, etc.).  A popular quote goes “Your life is God’s gift to you; what you do with it is your gift to God.”  Just replace “life” with “body” and you’ve got it down pat.

If humility is regarded as the mother of all virtues, gratitude is its twin sister, the manifestation of one’s awareness of one’s place in creation’s network of love.  The most peaceful beings on earth are not those who possess the most numerous material things, but those who are most grateful.  Gratitude is the key to a truly rich life.  It opens us to bravely welcome the unknown, empowers us to overcome failures, clears our vision to see the unexpected as God’s surprise visits in our lives.  Gratitude curbs our greed, tames the beast in us, and intensifies our satisfaction for whatever we have; it emboldens us to share with others not only what we have but also who we are. 

Thirteenth century German philosopher and theologian Meister Eckhart  (1260-1328) sums up the magnificence of gratitude with these words: “If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is, ‘Thank you,’ it will be enough.”  Indeed, gratitude frees our whole being, because it uncovers before our inner eye the truth that we are a part of God and God is a part of us.  And that’s the truth.  J