Asking the hard questions…now what?!
Me? …A Peace-Maker?!
Love your enemies and be good to everyone who hates you. Ask God to bless anyone who curses you and pray for everyone who is cruel to you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, don’t stop that person from slapping you on the other cheek. If someone wants to take your coat, don’t try to keep back your shirt. Give to everyone who asks, and don’t ask people to return what they have taken from you. Treat others just as you want to be treated. Luke 6:27 – 31
Jesus, Luke 6:27–31
If we can only change the world by changing ourselves, take the time to ask yourself these questions. Have the courage to ask the questions to others so we can set our minds on things above, even while examining earthly things.
You will see these questions being asked throughout our Conference. Be prepared to answer and share and you can start by sharing in the comments below.
- How is God asking me to practice peace?
- Who do I struggle with?
- Who is my enemy? How can I love them?
- Can justice & peace happen at the same time?
- Reconciliation or forgiveness? Can I have one without the other?
- Where do I see hope and peace in the world today?
Love springs from awareness… Therefore the first act of love is to see this person or this object, this reality as it truly is. And this involves the enormous discipline of dropping your desires, your prejudices, your memories, your projections, your selective way of looking…
Anthony De Mello, “The Way to Love”
Let’s Pray
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
– St. Francis of Assisi, Prayer for Peace
