Spread Peace this New Church Year
We are living a famine of peace – Pope Francis
In his message for the second World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, Pope Francis addressed the need for peace in our world. He said,
“Our world is passing through a time of trial and testing, beginning with the sudden, violent outbreak of the pandemic, and then by a war that is harming peace and development on a global scale. Nor is it a coincidence that war is returning to Europe at a time when the generation that experienced it in the last century is dying out. These great crises risk anaesthetizing us to the reality of other “epidemics” and other widespread forms of violence that menace the human family and our common home.
“All this points to the need for a profound change, a conversion, that disarms hearts and leads us to see others as our brothers or sisters. We grandparents and elderly people have a great responsibility: to teach the women and men of our time to regard others with the same understanding and loving gaze with which we regard our own grandchildren. We ourselves have grown in humanity by caring for others, and now we can be teachers of a way of life that is peaceful and attentive to those in greatest need. This attitude may be mistaken for weakness or resignation, yet it will be the meek, not the aggressive and the abusive, who will inherit the earth (cf. Mt 5:5).
“One fruit that we are called to bring forth is protecting the world. “Our grandparents held us in their arms and carried us on their knees”; [5] now is the time for us to carry on our own knees – with practical assistance or with prayer alone – not only our own grandchildren but also the many frightened grandchildren whom we have not yet met and who may be fleeing from war or suffering its effects. Let us hold in our hearts – like Saint Joseph, who was a loving and attentive father – the little ones of Ukraine, of Afghanistan, of South Sudan…”
Sunday Angelus on 20 November 2022
The Pope again addressed the issue of peace at his Sunday Angelus on 20 November in which he said we are living a famine of peace!
Spread Peace this Advent with our Peace Card
We all know that peace begins with us, with our family, our community, our parish! Sadly in many families a peaceful and loving environment does not exist. There is always a way back, there is always hope.
This Advent and Christmas Season we are introducing our Peace Card to encourage you to speak peace, teach peace and spread peace this Advent!
Our Peace Card is a simple e-card that can be downloaded and shared in an email or online through social media. We are asking you to use the Peace Card to share a peace greeting into the world; to begin a conversation with someone you have not spoken to in your family or a friend that you have forgotten over the years. Peace begins with you!
You can download the card from our website, save it as an image file and use it as you see fit. It comes with a very simple and yet profound message: Peace Be With You!
Will you join us and share peace into our troubled world this Advent and Christmas?
