"God makes peace with us, but it is not easy to keep the peace,"
because war begins in the human heart, at home, in families and then
spreads beyond, to the whole world "because the great, the mighty, they
want a piece of land, they want a little more power or want to profit a
little more with arms trafficking", said Pope Francis at Mass this
morning in Santa Marta, inspired by the Book of Genesis, which tells of
Noah releasing the dove after the flood.
This dove, which returns with an olive branch, is “a sign of what God
desired after the flood: peace, that is, that all would live in peace.”
He said, “The dove and the rainbow are fragile. The rainbow is
beautiful after a storm, but then a cloud comes and it disappears.” Even
the dove, he added, is fragile.
The Pope said he was reminded of when
at a Sunday Angelus two years ago a seagull swooped in and killed the
two doves he and two children had just released from a window of the
Apostolic Palace.
Pope Francis said, “The Covenant which God makes is strong, but we
accept it in weakness. God makes peace with us but it is not easy to
care for peace. It is a daily task, because within each of us is that
seed of original sin, that is, the spirit of Cain which – for envy,
jealousy, greed, and the desire to dominate – leads to war.” In this
way, the Holy Father observed that, when speaking of the Covenant
between God and humanity, reference is made to “blood”.
As the First
Reading states, “For your own lifeblood, too, I will demand an
accounting: from every animal I will demand it, and from one man in
regard to his fellow man.” We, the Pope said, “are our brothers’ keeper,
and when there is blood spilt, there is sin, and God will demand an
accounting.”
“In today’s world there is blood being spilt. Today the world is at
war. Many brothers and sisters are dying, even innocent people, because
the great and powerful want a larger slice of the earth; they want a
little more power, or they want to make a little more money on arms
trafficking. And the Word of the Lord is clear: ‘For your own lifeblood,
that is of your life, I will demand an accounting: from every animal I
will demand it, and from one man in regard to his fellow man.’ Even of
us –it seems peaceful here – the Lord will demand an accounting of the
blood of our brothers and sisters who are suffering war.”
“How do I care for the dove?”, Pope Francis asked himself, “What do I
do so that the rainbow is always a guide? What do I do so that more
blood is not spilt in the world?” All of us, he said, “we are involved
in this.” Prayer for peace “is not a formality; work towards peace is
not a formality.” He noted with bitterness that “war begins in the heart
of a person; it begins at home, in the family, among friends and then
goes out into the whole world.” What do I do, he asked, “when I feel
that something enters my heart that wants to destroy peace?”
“War begins in here and finishes out there. The news we see in the
papers or on television… Today so many people die, and that seed of war,
which breeds envy, jealousy, and greed in my heart, is the same – grown
up, become a tree – as the bomb which falls on a hospital, on a school,
and kills children. It is the same. The declaration of war begins in
here, in each of us. For this reason the question arises: ‘How do I care
for peace in my heart, in my interior, and in my family?’. Care for
peace; not only care for it but make it with your hands every day. Just
so will we succeed in spreading it throughout the whole world.”
Pope Francis said, “The blood of Christ is that which makes peace,
but not that blood which I make with my brother or which arms
traffickers make, or that of the earth’s powerful in the great wars.”
The Pope then recalled an anecdote from his childhood about peace.
“As I recall, the alarm at the Fire Brigade began to sound, and then
those on the television and the city… This usually happened to draw
attention to a tragedy or something else. And immediately I heard our
neighbor call my mother: ‘Mrs. Regina, come here, come here, come here!’
My mother went out a little afraid: ‘What’s happened?” And the lady
from the other side of the garden told her: ‘The war is over!’ and she
cried.”
Francis then recalled the hug the two women shared, their crying and
joy because the war had ended. “May the Lord,” he concluded, “give us
the grace to say: ‘War is finished, crying. War is finished in my heart;
war is finished in my family; war is finished in my neighborhood; war
is finished in my workplace; war is finished in the world.’ In this way
shall the dove, rainbow, and Covenant be strengthened.”