OBJECTIVES1. Know that peace is God’s basic

attribute, and that peace can bring fullness of life, fruitfulness, well-being and prosperity.

2. Work for peace and justice, and strive to be reconciled with our neighbor.

3. Worship Jesus Christ our Lord, the Prince and Bearer of peace in the sacrament of the Eucharist and in our daily prayer.

A story…

This is a story of a KING who lived in a beautiful kingdom

This KING was very

well-loved and highly

revered by the people

because of his

intelligence… His fairness towards his

people… and his stunningly good

looks…

His name was…

But before we continue the story, let me remind you all that this is a fictitious story…

Any similarity to actual persons or situations is

purely COINCIDENTAL…

King Lorenz was married to the most beautiful queen that ever lived on earth…

Her name was…

They were blessed with highly intelligent & very beautiful children…

They were…

the eldest….

glamorous….

elegant….

and sophisticated…

.

talented daughter….

brilliant….

skillful….

and healthy….

the adorable princesslover of

pets….caretaker of

nature...pure & tender….

the pretty maiden….

full of energy….

young….

and beautiful….

the lovable princess…

loving & caring…adored by

many…

loved by all….

And finally…. the youngest

the king’s favorite…

the only son in the family

One day, KING LORENZ, the greatest

king of all, decided to hold a drawing

contest…

the ARTIST who would paint the best picture of PEACE will win….

Who ever would win will marry…

All the girls in the land rejoiced about it…

Now is my Now is my chance to chance to

finally fulfill finally fulfill my long time my long time dream.. I will dream.. I will

win this win this contest and contest and marry the marry the Prince!!Prince!!

‘‘can’t wait to can’t wait to see myself see myself marry the marry the

prince!prince!

Do I have a Do I have a chance of chance of

winning the winning the prince??prince??

thousands of girls tried…

vavyvavy

crishcrish

Sleeping beautySleeping beauty

dheejaydheejay

reeanereeane

abieabie

henrichhenrich

eloisaeloisa

roxaneroxane

But, like in any contest, only one had to win. So, KING LORENZ, the

greatest king of all, had to eliminate the others

dheejaydheejaybexbex

vavyvavy

eloisaeloisa

vavyvavy

bexbex

eloisaeloisa

dheejaydheejay

The King looked at all the four pictures again…..

but there were only two he really liked and he had to choose between them.

One picture was of a calm scenery. Towering

mountains were all around it. Overhead was a blue sky with

fluffy white clouds. All who saw this picture thought that it was a

perfect picture of peace.

The other picture had a mountain too. But these were rugged and bare. Down the side of the mountain were dying trees. This did not look peaceful at all.

But when the King looked, he saw a

tiny bush growing in a crack in the

rock… In the bush a mother bird had

built her nest.

There, in the midst of the rugged ugly mountain, sat the

mother bird and the father bird on

the nest ...

perfect peace.

Which picture do you think won the prize?

dheejaydheejay

the only son in the family

Just marrie

d

Just marrie

d

And they lived PEACEFULLY ever after

Each day, we hear news

about violence,

conflict, and strife

Is there

PEACE in our lands?

What does it take to achieve the almost over-used phrase “World Peace”?

To examine this, we first need to understand what PEACE really means

So, what is

Is this Is this what what they call they call PEACE?PEACE?

In CST and in Scripture, PEACE does not mean just the absence of war

It is much more than thatIt is much more than that

The original Hebrew word for PEACEThe original Hebrew word for PEACE

Which connotes completeness and that all is Which connotes completeness and that all is well all aroundwell all around

In CST, PEACE means life to the fullest

Relationship Relationship with SELFwith SELF

SOCIETY

NNAATTUURREE

““founded on Truth, founded on Truth,

built according to Justice, built according to Justice,

inspired and integrated by Love,inspired and integrated by Love,

and practiced in Freedom”and practiced in Freedom”

pacem in terrispacem in terris

Peace is “the fruit of that RIGHT RIGHT ORDERING OF THINGS ORDERING OF THINGS with which the DIVINE FOUNDER has invested human society and which must be actualised by man thirsting after an ever more perfect

reign of justice” GAUDIUM ET SPES, 78

“WRONG ORDERING OF THINGS”

Whenever the dignity of the human person is violated

Whenever there is no

fair distribution of

the world’s resources

Whenever there is no solidarity or respect for creation

PACEM IN TERRIS

A.Order Between People – human rights and duties.

B.Relationship Between Individuals and the State – nature of authority and the promotion of common good.

C.Relations Between States – a relationship based on truth, justice and freedom.

D.Relations of People and States with the World Community – political communities of the world have become interdependent

E.Faith and Action – Christians should integrate religious beliefs and action.

A story…

A story of a man…

The name of this man in our story is…

His name is…

Joel Jr Agustin Joel Jr Agustin DaquiagDaquiag

JOELJOEL

So, this is a story of JOEL, who was deeply troubled by what he saw around him…

TERRORISM

TERRORISM

POLITICAL POLITICAL TURMOILTURMOIL

CORRUPTIONCORRUPTION

JOEL was deeply troubled by all these things that occurred one after another

It was troublesome for him to see the RICH getting richer…

…while the poor get poorer and poorer…

… and yet both RICH and POOR still felt insecure

One day, JOEL One day, JOEL decided to go decided to go

for a walk in for a walk in the beach and the beach and

pondered on pondered on all these all these things…things…

… he thought to himself…

Something’s Something’s wrong.

wrong.

… just then, a STRANGER walked beside him, and asked…

What are you thinking

about?

I’m tired of the I’m tired of the way things are.way things are.

People live in People live in fear – we fear fear – we fear for our safety, for our safety,

we fear not we fear not having enough having enough

And we fear And we fear floods and all floods and all

kinds of disasterskinds of disasters

We don’t trust We don’t trust each other each other

anymore and we anymore and we don’t even trust don’t even trust

the the environment!environment!

It has become It has become every man for every man for

himself.himself.

I wish I I wish I could walk could walk away from away from

it allit all

Why don’t you Why don’t you believe that things believe that things

can get better?can get better?

We are not meant We are not meant to live this wayto live this way

… and then, the STRANGER asked…

Then, starting with the story of creation & God’s love for humankind, the STRANGER explained the message of hope found in the Christian faith…

BUT before we continue the story…

JOELJOEL

STRANGERSTRANGER

SO, let’s continue the story…

Then, starting with the story of creation & God’s love for humankind, the STRANGER explained the message of hope found in the Christian faith…

It’s all a matter of It’s all a matter of remembering that each remembering that each

one of us is created by God one of us is created by God and given an infinite and given an infinite

dignity dignity

Every person Every person matters a lot to God matters a lot to God and we’re all equal and we’re all equal

in His eyes.in His eyes.

Oh yes, I remember that!

In fact, we’re made in In fact, we’re made in God’s image! This is God’s image! This is

our dignity…our dignity…

… … and we need to and we need to respect this dignity respect this dignity in ourselves and in in ourselves and in

others.others.

… JOEL stopped for a moment and thought about the many lives destroyed thru violence…

… he also thought about

how the vulnerable were often ignored or used for other’s

pleasures or gains…

Life has become cheap. Life has become cheap. We have lost the We have lost the

wonder of seeing how wonder of seeing how special each person isspecial each person is

The stranger continued:

It also seems It also seems that people that people

have forgotten have forgotten that they need that they need

each othereach other

The truth is, we are made The truth is, we are made to be in community. This to be in community. This means much more than means much more than

tolerating each othertolerating each other

It means solidarity, which It means solidarity, which is a way of being with is a way of being with others such that their others such that their

needs are also our needs are also our concernconcern

And the attitude of And the attitude of solidarity makes us solidarity makes us

seek the common good.seek the common good.

The common The common good?good?

What’s What’s that?that?

Well, I can tell Well, I can tell you what it’s notyou what it’s not

The common good is not The common good is not simply what suits the simply what suits the

majority, the more powerful majority, the more powerful or the more assertive.or the more assertive.

It means seeking what’s It means seeking what’s good for everyone in the good for everyone in the

community by making community by making the effort to understand the effort to understand the concerns of others…the concerns of others…

Wow! That Wow! That sounds sounds

really nice!really nice!

……it also means genuinely it also means genuinely seeking a solution together. seeking a solution together. God made us responsible for God made us responsible for

one another, one another,

but the trouble is, we’re too but the trouble is, we’re too caught up I what we need for caught up I what we need for ourselves. So we bulldoze our ourselves. So we bulldoze our way through and marginalize way through and marginalize

othersothers

Maybe that’s why Maybe that’s why people don’t trust people don’t trust

each other each other anymore.anymore.

That’s not allThat’s not all

God also meant for the God also meant for the resources in creation to be resources in creation to be

enjoyed by everyone, so enjoyed by everyone, so that we all have what we that we all have what we

need.need.

This is called the This is called the universal destination of universal destination of

goods.goods.

But, why do we see some But, why do we see some people having an over-people having an over-

abundance of good things, abundance of good things, while others don’t even have while others don’t even have

enough?enough?

Because they neglect Because they neglect principle of the principle of the

universal destination of universal destination of goods.goods.

Furthermore, we need to respect Furthermore, we need to respect the dignity of creation itself the dignity of creation itself

because this physical because this physical environment is where God made environment is where God made us to live in and journey towards us to live in and journey towards

salvationsalvation

Oh yes, I read that in the Oh yes, I read that in the book of Genesis in the book of Genesis in the

Old Testament!Old Testament!

Creation is meant for our Creation is meant for our stewardship, not for our stewardship, not for our

exploitation. Just look at the exploitation. Just look at the division and disasters that division and disasters that

come when we are selfish and come when we are selfish and exploitative!exploitative!

After having heard all these, JOEL reflected and said:

Yes, I guess we have Yes, I guess we have forgotten to see the forgotten to see the

big picture. How big picture. How much better life will much better life will

be when we do!be when we do!

But I think it’s not too But I think it’s not too late.late.

Where can I Where can I start?start?

The STRANGER smiled and said:

Well, you’re headed Well, you’re headed in the right direction in the right direction

now. You’re now. You’re beginning to see that beginning to see that you personally have a you personally have a

role in building a role in building a better societybetter society

You now appreciate You now appreciate the idea of the idea of

participation in participation in Catholic Social Catholic Social

TeachingsTeachings

Oh I’m glad Oh I’m glad you said you said

that!that!

Closely linked with Closely linked with this is the idea of this is the idea of free association free association and subsidiarity.and subsidiarity.

Remember I said that human Remember I said that human beings are social in nature, so beings are social in nature, so

they have a right to get together they have a right to get together and form associations to strive and form associations to strive

for the common good.for the common good.

Yes, I remember Yes, I remember you saying that you saying that

awhile ago!awhile ago!

Higher level bodies and those Higher level bodies and those in authority should help them in authority should help them

to flourish and not deprive to flourish and not deprive them of doing what they can them of doing what they can

do for themselvesdo for themselves

The STRANGER added:

Do also bear in Do also bear in mind that every mind that every

effort means a lot effort means a lot to God.to God.

Your work is holy because it is Your work is holy because it is carried out by a human being carried out by a human being – one who is infinitely special – one who is infinitely special

to God.to God.

This is the This is the dignity of workdignity of work

When JOEL heard this, he remembered uncomfortably the way he had spoken to a waitress the other day when the restaurant didn’t have what he wanted

He resolved to see the dignity in

every person and to try to

make a difference

As if hearing his thoughts, the

STRANGER said:

Now you have Now you have understood the principle understood the principle

of the promotion of of the promotion of peace as well!peace as well!

PEACE is not PEACE is not about avoiding about avoiding

troubles. troubles.

So, what is it So, what is it really, then?really, then?

PEACE is about dealing PEACE is about dealing courageously with a situation courageously with a situation in order to restore it to one in order to restore it to one

where there are right where there are right relationships -relationships -

- with others, - with others, self, God, and all self, God, and all

creationcreation

JOEL felt his hope restored and started to believe in the goodness of others again

He turned to thank the

STRANGER, but the STRANGER

had vanished

JOEL thought this fellow reminded him of the One who stretched out His arms on a cross wide enough to embrace all humanity

He smiled to He smiled to himself and himself and

walked on walked on resolutelyresolutely

Somehow, JOEL Somehow, JOEL knew that he knew that he would find HIM…would find HIM…

 Peace on Earth notes that “all States are by nature equal in dignity,” that is, they have the right to existence, to self-development and to be primarily responsible for this development. (# 89-92)

•States are also subject to rights and duties. This means that relationships between States must be harmonized in truth, justice, active solidarity and

freedom.

• The Church believes that “the true and solid peace of nations can consist, not in equality of arms, but in mutual trust alone.”

(# 113)

Relations between states must be based on freedom. (# 120)

•The document also brings to awareness that the path to peace is

beset with many and grave obstacles.

• The pursuit of universal common good and the recognition of the equal status of

every nation can only “be adequately tackled or solved… by the efforts of

public authorities… which are in position to act in an effective manner on a world-

wide basis.” (# 130-140)

Pacem in Terris encourages that the United Nations be

promoted.

ACTIVITY

1. How do you differentiate a peacemaker from a peacekeeper?

2. Why must peace be founded on justice?

3. How can lying destroy peace?