‘Peace is the way’

(The following is the Christmas message of Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Rosales.)

According to Confucian wisdom, "the exemplary person helps to bring out the best in others." Christmas came 500 years after Confucius spoke those words, and Jesus, the very heart of Christmas, did exactly what the wise man from China said.

There was something good in every person and Jesus tirelessly brought out the good in everyone. He even had reason to love each one.

Christians believe that even in the worst of persons there is an element of good that remains no matter how insignificant. It has always been said that with God, any believer is a sinner who has a future, while the saint is one who had a past. Equally in all of us humans there is a mysterious blend of good and what is not good. This mixture is what many times causes confusion as to how to begin to become virtuous. Shall humans begin to be virtuous only when they are sinless or must one strive even when one is still sinful?

The proof of God’s love for us, said St. Paul, is that Christ died for us while we were still sinners (Romans 5:8). In truth we do not deserve God’s love; we are not ready for God’s love; but we receive His love because we need it.

Jesus came in order that through His love we might be able to recover and retain what is good in us.

It was from that remaining inconsequential spark of goodness in a created human being, that borrowed dignity from "the image and likeness of God," that Jesus based the validity of His mission so that man could again be won towards goodness no matter what its fate was in the past.

The Lord brought out the best in people, because He made them better by restoring their lost dignity. He received the poor not only at the stable, but gave them a place in His heart. The repentant sinner received both hearing and forgiveness. He made friends with the humble.

Peace, which was the common greeting on Christmas and Easter, could not be provided by mere mortals. The peace that the world could not give was the peace that Jesus bequeathed to his disciples (Jn 14:27).

Today there is little chance for peace to triumph in a world where more individuals are hungry, poor, abused, lied to and taken advantage of. All are the guardians of peace — the poor and the rich, the strong and the weak, the leaders and the led. We are called to an alliance of peace that recognizes neither division, class nor religion.

The peace Jesus brought is rooted in good will, honesty, and simplicity. "Peace on earth on those God favors." (Luke 2:14).

The late Pope Paul VI loved to say that "Development is the new name for peace." Peace is not won in a battle or in a debate. When people are helped out of a less human situation to a more humane life, when they are freed from the chains of ignorance, hunger, poverty, selfishness and sin, then there is the unassailable movement towards development or progress. In this manner, whether they are called Faithful or Citizenry, they are all placed on the road to peace. Our prayer is to make this march to peace a common, unified pilgrimage, where every pilgrim sings in the same tune and are stepping in the direction of a common vision of Peace!

Peace is every one’s business. There is not one religious, another political or still an ideological route to peace. Like love, which is the road to every good, peace is awarded by God on those He favors. (Lk 2:14).

Christmas is the trumpet blast for all, announcing that the movement from less human to more human, from the selfish to the more benevolent relatedness of life, has already begun. Rejoice for the Lord has come. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

Jesus is our only Way of proceeding or behaving; and as framed in the words of Mahatma Gandhi, we can also say, "There is no way to peace; peace is the way."

A blessed Christmas to all!

May the year that follows become, in Christ Jesus, our own self-sacrificing and common way to peace.