MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE BENEDICT XVI FOR THE CELEBRATION OF THE WORLD DAY OF PEACE 1 JANUARY 2012
EDUCATING YOUNG PEOPLE IN JUSTICE AND PEACE
1. The beginning of a new year, God’s gift to humanity,
prompts me to extend to all, with great confidence and affection, my
heartfelt good wishes that this time now before us may be marked
concretely by justice and peace.
With what attitude should we look to the New Year? We
find a very beautiful image in Psalm 130. The Psalmist says that people
of faith wait for the Lord “more than those who watch for the morning”
(v. 6); they wait for him with firm hope because they know that he will
bring light, mercy, salvation. This waiting was born of the experience
of the Chosen People, who realized that God taught them to look at the
world in its truth and not to be overwhelmed by tribulation. I invite
you to look to 2012 with this attitude of confident trust. It is true
that the year now ending has been marked by a rising sense of
frustration at the crisis looming over society, the world of labour and
the economy, a crisis whose roots are primarily cultural and
anthropological. It seems as if a shadow has fallen over our time,
preventing us from clearly seeing the light of day.
In this shadow, however, human hearts continue to wait
for the dawn of which the Psalmist speaks. Because this expectation is
particularly powerful and evident in young people, my thoughts turn to
them and to the contribution which they can and must make to society. I
would like therefore to devote this message for the XLV World Day of
Peace to the theme of education: “Educating Young People in Justice and Peace”, in the conviction that the young, with their enthusiasm and idealism, can offer new hope to the world.
My Message is also addressed to parents, families and
all those involved in the area of education and formation, as well as to
leaders in the various spheres of religious, social, political,
economic and cultural life and in the media. Attentiveness to young
people and their concerns, the ability to listen to them and appreciate
them, is not merely something expedient; it represents a primary duty
for society as a whole, for the sake of building a future of justice and
peace.
It is a matter of communicating to young people an
appreciation for the positive value of life and of awakening in them a
desire to spend their lives in the service of the Good. This is a task
which engages each of us personally.
The concerns expressed in recent times by many young
people around the world demonstrate that they desire to look to the
future with solid hope. At the present time, they are experiencing
apprehension about many things: they want to receive an education which
prepares them more fully to deal with the real world, they see how
difficult it is to form a family and to find stable employment; they
wonder if they can really contribute to political, cultural and economic
life in order to build a society with a more human and fraternal face.
It is important that this unease and its underlying
idealism receive due attention at every level of society. The Church
looks to young people with hope and confidence; she encourages them to
seek truth, to defend the common good, to be open to the world around
them and willing to see “new things” (Is 42:9; 48:6).
Educators
2. Education is the most interesting and difficult adventure in life. Educating – from the Latin
educere – means leading young people to move beyond themselves and
introducing them to reality, towards a fullness that leads to growth.
This process is fostered by the encounter of two freedoms, that of
adults and that of the young. It calls for
responsibility on the part of the learners, who must be open to being
led to the knowledge of reality, and on the part of educators, who must
be ready to give of themselves. For this reason, today more than ever we
need authentic witnesses, and not simply people who parcel out rules
and facts; we need witnesses capable of seeing farther than others
because their life is so much broader. A witness is someone who fi rst
lives the life that he proposes to others.
Where does true education in peace and justice take
place? First of all, in the family, since parents are the first
educators. The family is the primary cell of society; “it is in the
family that children learn the human and Christian values which enable
them to have a constructive and peaceful coexistence. It is in the
family that they learn solidarity between the generations, respect for
rules, forgiveness and how to welcome others.”
(1) The family is the first school in which we are trained in justice
and peace.
We are living in a world where families, and life
itself, are constantly threatened and not infrequently fragmented.
Working conditions which are often incompatible with family
responsibilities, worries about the future, the frenetic pace of life,
the need to move frequently to ensure an adequate livelihood, to say
nothing of mere survival – all this makes it hard to ensure that
children receive one of the most precious of treasures: the presence of
their parents. This presence makes it possible to share more deeply in
the journey of life and thus to pass on experiences and convictions
gained with the passing of the years, experiences and convictions which
can only be communicated by spending time together. I would urge parents
not to grow disheartened! May they encourage children by the example of
their lives to put their hope before all else in God, the one source of
authentic justice and peace.
I would also like to address a word to those in charge
of educational institutions: with a great sense of responsibility may
they ensure that the dignity of each person is always respected and
appreciated. Let them be concerned that every young person be able to
discover his or her own vocation and helped to develop his or her
God-given gifts. May they reassure families that their children can
receive an education that does not conflict with their consciences and
their religious principles.
Every educational setting can be a place of openness to
the transcendent and to others; a place of dialogue, cohesiveness and
attentive listening, where young people feel appreciated for their
personal abilities and inner riches, and can learn to esteem their
brothers and sisters. May young people be taught to savour the joy which
comes from the daily exercise of charity and compassion towards others
and from taking an active part in the building of a more humane and
fraternal society.
I ask political leaders to offer concrete assistance to
families and educational institutions in the exercise of their right and
duty to educate. Adequate support should never be lacking to parents in
their task. Let them ensure that no one is ever denied access to
education and that families are able freely to choose the educational
structures they consider most suitable for their children. Let them be
committed to reuniting families separated by the need to earn a living.
Let them give young people a transparent image of politics as a genuine
service to the good of all.
I cannot fail also to appeal to the world of the media
to offer its own contribution to education. In today’s society the mass
media have a particular role: they not only inform but also form the
minds of their audiences, and so they can make a significant
contribution to the education of young people. It is important never to
forget that the connection between education and communication is
extremely close: education takes place through communication, which
influences, for better or worse, the formation of the person.
Young people too need to have the courage to live by the
same high standards that they set for others. Theirs is a great
responsibility: may they find the strength to make good and wise use of
their freedom. They too are responsible for their education, including
their education in justice and peace!
Educating in truth and freedom
3. Saint Augustine once asked: “Quid enim fortius desiderat anima quam veritatem? –
What does man desire more deeply than truth?”(2) The human face of a
society depends very much on the contribution of education to keep this
irrepressible question alive. Education, indeed, is concerned with the
integral formation of the person, including the moral and spiritual
dimension, focused upon man’s final end and the good of the society to
which he belongs. Therefore, in order to educate in truth, it is
necessary first and foremost to know who the human person is, to know
human nature.
Contemplating the world around him, the Psalmist reflects:
“When I see the heavens, the work of your hands, the moon and the stars
which you arranged, what is man that you should keep him in mind,
mortal man that you care for him?” (Ps 8:4-5). This is the fundamental question that must be asked: who is man? Man
is a being who bears within his heart a thirst for the infinite, a
thirst for truth – a truth which is not partial but capable of
explaining life’s meaning – since he was created in the image and
likeness of God. The grateful recognition that life is an inestimable
gift, then, leads to the discovery of one’s own profound dignity and the
inviolability of every single person. Hence the first step in education
is learning to recognize the Creator’s image in man, and consequently
learning to have a profound respect for every human being and helping
others to live a life consonant with this supreme dignity. We must never
forget that “authentic human development concerns the whole of the
person in every single dimension”(3), including the transcendent
dimension, and that the person cannot be sacrificed for the sake of
attaining a particular good, whether this be economic or social,
individual or collective.
Only in relation to God does man come to understand also
the meaning of human freedom. It is the task of education to form
people in authentic freedom. This is not the absence of constraint or
the supremacy of free will, it is not the absolutism of the self. When
man believes himself to be absolute, to depend on nothing and no one, to
be able to do anything he wants, he ends up contradicting the truth of
his own being and forfeiting his freedom. On the contrary, man is a
relational being, who lives in relationship with others and especially
with God. Authentic freedom can never be attained independently of God.
Freedom is a precious value, but a fragile one; it can
be misunderstood and misused. “Today, a particularly insidious obstacle
to the task of educating is the massive presence in our society and
culture of that relativism which, recognizing nothing as definitive,
leaves as the ultimate criterion only the self with its desires. And
under the semblance of freedom it becomes a prison for each one, for it
separates people from one another, locking each person into his or her
own self. With such a relativistic horizon, therefore, real education is
not possible without the light of the truth; sooner or later, every
person is in fact condemned to doubting the goodness of his or her own
life and the relationships of which it consists, the validity of his or
her commitment to build with others something in common”(4).
In order to exercise his freedom, then, man must move
beyond the relativistic horizon and come to know the truth about himself
and the truth about good and evil. Deep within his conscience, man
discovers a law that he did not lay upon himself, but which he must
obey. Its voice calls him to love and to do what is good, to avoid evil
and to take responsibility for the good he does and the evil he
commits(5). Thus, the exercise of freedom is intimately linked to the
natural moral law, which is universal in character, expresses the
dignity of every person and forms the basis of fundamental human rights
and duties: consequently, in the final analysis, it forms the basis for
just and peaceful coexistence.
The right use of freedom, then, is central to the
promotion of justice and peace, which require respect for oneself and
others, including those whose way of being and living differs greatly
from one’s own. This attitude engenders the elements without which peace
and justice remain merely words without content: mutual trust, the
capacity to hold constructive dialogue, the possibility of forgiveness,
which one constantly wishes to receive but finds hard to bestow, mutual
charity, compassion towards the weakest, as well as readiness to make
sacrifices.
Educating in justice
4. In this world of ours, in which, despite the
profession of good intentions, the value of the person, of human dignity
and human rights is seriously threatened by the widespread tendency to
have recourse exclusively to the criteria of utility, profit and
material possessions, it is important not to detach the concept of
justice from its transcendent roots. Justice, indeed, is not simply a
human convention, since what is just is ultimately determined not by
positive law, but by the profound identity of the human being. It is the
integral vision of man that saves us from falling into a contractual
conception of justice and enables us to locate justice within the
horizon of solidarity and love(6).
We cannot ignore the fact that some currents of modern
culture, built upon rationalist and individualist economic principles,
have cut off the concept of justice from its transcendent roots,
detaching it from charity and solidarity: “The ‘earthly city’ is
promoted not merely by relationships of rights and duties, but to an
even greater and more fundamental extent by relationships of
gratuitousness, mercy and communion. Charity always manifests God’s
love in human relationships as well, it gives theological and salvific
value to all commitment for justice in the world”(7).
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Mt 5:6).
They shall be satisfied because they hunger and thirst for right
relations with God, with themselves, with their brothers and sisters,
and with the whole of creation.
Educating in peace
5. “Peace is not merely the absence of war, and it is
not limited to maintaining a balance of powers between adversaries.
Peace cannot be attained on earth without safeguarding the goods of
persons, free communication among men, respect for the dignity of
persons and peoples, and the assiduous practice of fraternity.”8 We
Christians believe that Christ is our true peace: in him, by his Cross,
God has reconciled the world to himself and has broken down the walls of
division that separated us from one another (cf. Eph 2:14-18); in him, there is but one family, reconciled in love.
Peace, however, is not merely a gift to be received: it
is also a task to be undertaken. In order to be true peacemakers, we
must educate ourselves in compassion, solidarity, working together,
fraternity, in being active within the community and concerned to raise
awareness about national and international issues and the importance of
seeking adequate mechanisms for the redistribution of wealth, the
promotion of growth, cooperation for development and conflict
resolution. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons
of God”, as Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5:9).
Peace for all is the fruit of justice for all, and no
one can shirk this essential task of promoting justice, according to
one’s particular areas of competence and responsibility. To the young,
who have such a strong attachment to ideals, I extend a particular
invitation to be patient and persevering in seeking justice and peace,
in cultivating the taste for what is just and true, even when it
involves sacrifice and swimming against the tide.
Raising one’s eyes to God
6. Before the difficult challenge of walking the paths
of justice and peace, we may be tempted to ask, in the words of the
Psalmist: “I lift up my eyes to the mountains: from where shall come my
help?” (Ps 121:1).
To all, and to young people in particular, I wish to say
emphatically: “It is not ideologies that save the world, but only a
return to the living God, our Creator, the guarantor of our freedom, the
guarantor of what is really good and true … an unconditional return to
God who is the measure of what is right and who at the same time is
everlasting love. And what could ever save us apart from love?”(9) Love
takes delight in truth, it is the force that enables us to make a
commitment to truth, to justice, to peace, because it bears all things,
believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things (cf. 1 Cor 13:1-13).
Dear young people, you are a precious gift for society.
Do not yield to discouragement in the face of difficulties and do not
abandon yourselves to false solutions which often seem the easiest way
to overcome problems. Do not be afraid to make a commitment, to face
hard work and sacrifice, to choose the paths that demand fidelity and
constancy, humility and dedication. Be confident in your youth and its
profound desires for happiness, truth, beauty and genuine love! Live
fully this time in your life so rich and so full of enthusiasm.
Realize that you yourselves are an example and an
inspiration to adults, even more so to the extent that you seek to
overcome injustice and corruption and strive to build a better future.
Be aware of your potential; never become self-centred but work for a
brighter future for all. You are never alone. The Church has confidence
in you, follows you, encourages you and wishes to offer you the most
precious gift she has: the opportunity to raise your eyes to God, to
encounter Jesus Christ, who is himself justice and peace.
All you men and women throughout the world, who take to
heart the cause of peace: peace is not a blessing already attained, but
rather a goal to which each and all of us must aspire. Let us look with
greater hope to the future; let us encourage one another on our journey;
let us work together to give our world a more humane and fraternal
face; and let us feel a common responsibility towards present and future
generations, especially in the task of training them to be people of
peace and builders of peace. With these thoughts I offer my reflections
and I appeal to everyone: let us pool our spiritual, moral and material
resources for the great goal of “educating young people in justice and
peace”.
From the Vatican, 8 December 2011
BENEDICTUS PP. XVI
(1) BENEDICT XVI,
Address to Administrators of Lazio Region and
of the Municipality and Province of Rome (14 January 2011):
L’Osservatore Romano, 15 January 2011, p. 7.
(2) Commentary on the Gospel of John, 26,
5.
(3) BENEDICT XVI, Encyclical Letter
Caritas in Veritate (29
June 2009), 11: AAS 101 (2009), 648; cf. PAUL VI, Encyclical Letter
Populorum Progressio
(26 March 1967), 14: AAS 59 (1967), 264.
(4) BENEDICT XVI,
Address for the Opening of the Diocesan
Ecclesial Meeting in the Basilica of Saint John Lateran (6 June 2005): AAS
97 (2005), 816.
(5) Cf. SECOND VATICAN ECUMENICAL COUNCIL, Pastoral
Constitution on the Church in the Modern World
Gaudium et Spes, 16.
(6) Cf. BENEDICT XVI,
Address to the Bundestag (Berlin, 22
September 2011): L’Osservatore Romano, 24 September 2011, pp. 6-7.
(7) ID., Encyclical Letter
Caritas in Veritate, 6 (29 June
2009), 6: AAS
101 (2009), 644-645.
(8) Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 2304.
(9) BENEDICT XVI,
Address at Youth Vigil (Cologne, 20
August 2005): AAS
97 (2005), 885-886.
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