On Dec. 7, 1965, at the conclusion of the Second Vatican Council, St. Pope Paul VI promulgated the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et spes). In this moment of grave tension in our world, it is appropriate for us to return to this constitutive document in the life of the Catholic Church today.
Chapter V of the Constitution is devoted to “The Fostering of Peace and the Promotion of the Community of Nations.” In paragraph 78, one reads:
“Peace is not merely the absence of war; nor can it be reduced solely to the maintenance of a balance of power between enemies; nor is it brought about by dictatorship. Instead, it is rightly and appropriately called an enterprise of justice. Peace results from that order structured into human society by its divine Founder, and actualized by men as they thirst after ever greater justice. The common good of humanity finds its ultimate meaning in the eternal law. But since the concrete demands of this common good are constantly changing as time goes on, peace is never attained once and for all, but must be built up ceaselessly. Moreover, since the human will is unsteady and wounded by sin, the achievement of peace requires a constant mastering of passions and the vigilance of lawful authority.”
Central to the holy season of Lent is the actualization of the teachings of Jesus in one’s heart and in one’s life. As the second Lenten Preface at the beginning of the Eucharistic Prayer states: “For you have given your children a sacred time for the renewing and purifying of their hearts, that, freed from disordered affections, they may so deal with the things of this passing world, as to hold rather to the things that eternally endure” (Roman Missal, Third Edition, 2010).
This is why in this moment as a pastor of the Church, I call upon all who have set out on the Lenten pilgrimage, along with those who may be watching from afar, to focus evermore on how you and I in our daily lives can work for the common good of all humankind by building our lives on the teachings of Jesus as found in the Holy Gospels. So often in the present culture, we blame our “passions” for distracting us from such a pursuit.
However, the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches the following about “passions”:
1771 The term “passions” refers to the affections or the feelings. By his emotions, man intuits the good and suspects evil.
1772 The principal passions are love and hatred, desire and fear, joy, sadness, and anger.
1773 In the passions, as movements of the sensitive appetite, there is neither moral good nor evil. But insofar as they engage reason and will, there is moral good or evil in them.
1774 Emotions and feelings can be taken up in the virtues or perverted by the vices.
1775 The perfection of the moral good consists in man’s being moved to the good not only by his will but also by his “heart.”
This last statement calls to mind a sermon that I read during the first week of Lent that has left a deep impression on me. The preacher of the sermon is St. Asterius of Amasea, a bishop who lived in the fourth century, in what is now modern-day Turkey, during a particularly hostile time. His first career was in law, but his deep faith and desire for a more spiritual life led him to renounce his legal profession and embrace the priesthood. He would leave behind at the end of his life a legacy of faith and gospel living. This is what he shared with the Church of his day, which reverberates down to the present day:
“You were made in the image of God. If then you wish to resemble him, follow his example. Since the very name you bear as Christians is a profession of love for men, imitate the love of Christ. Reflect for a moment on the wealth of his kindness … Let us then be shepherds like the Lord. We must meditate on the Gospel, and we see in this mirror the example of zeal and loving kindness; we should become thoroughly schooled in these virtues.
“For there, obscurely, in the form of a parable, we see a shepherd who had a hundred sheep. When one of them was separated from the flock and lost its way, that shepherd did not remain with the sheep who kept together at pasture. No, he went off to look for the stray. He crossed many valleys and thickets, he climbed great and towering mountains, he spent much time and laboring wandering through solitary places until at last he found his sheep.
“Let us look more closely at the hidden meaning of this parable. The sheep is more than a sheep, the shepherd more than a shepherd. They are examples enshrining holy truths. They teach us that we should not look on men as lost or beyond hope; we should not abandon them when they are in danger or be slow to come to their help. When they turn away from the right path and wander, we must lead them back, and rejoice at their return, welcoming them back into the company of those who lead good and holy lives” (St. Asterius of Amasea, bishop – Office of Readings, Thursday of the First Week of Lent).
At the end of paragraph 78 of Gadium et spes, I cited in the beginning of this article, are these sentences: “Insofar as men are sinful, the threat of war hangs over them, and hang over them it will until the return of Christ. But insofar as men vanquish sin by a union of love, they will vanquish violence as well and make these words come true: ‘They shall turn their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into sickles. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more’ (Isaiah 2:4).”
This moment of human history once again challenges the Catholic Church and its members to be authentic to its teaching and to the true conversion of heart. As the Church prays in the Second Eucharistic Prayer for Reconciliation: “You, therefore, almighty Father, we bless through Jesus Christ who comes in your name. He himself is the Word that brings salvation, the hand you extend to sinners, the way by which your peace is offered to us. When we ourselves had turned away from you on account of our sins, you brought us back to be reconciled, O Lord, so that, converted at last to you, we might love one another through your Son, whom for our sake you handed over to death.”
When I was in USAF Reserves as a Chaplain Candidate, our motto was, “Seek peace and pursue it” (Ps 34:14). I take to heart these words today in my own discipleship while praying for all who serve at home and abroad to protect us. Our prayers are with all our service men and women, and we pray for all who have died in the line of duty and for their families.
St. Pope Paul VI and later St. Pope John Paul II spoke these words on US soil, “No more war, war never again.” Although it may seem an impossibility, Sacred Scripture tells us that with God all things are possible. So how can you and I seek peace and pursue it at this moment in our lives? How could the fostering of prayer, fasting, and charitable works this Lent help us to “vanquish sin” and grow in greater love with God and neighbor? Most of all, let us not forget that we are not abandoned or without hope because “Christ is our hope!” Amen.
