SFO International Council - Weekly edition
Volume: 11 - N. 01 - 2005 - January - I
From: http://www.vatican.va
Madrid, 1st January 2005
To all the Brothers and Sisters of the
Secular Franciscan Order
To the SFO National Councils
To the SFO International Councillors
Circ. 22/02-08
Dear Brothers and Sisters:
May the Lord, whose birth we are celebrating, give you peace!
I am making contact with you all at the beginning of this new year in order to express my fraternal affection and best wishes for each one of you, for your families and for your Fraternities.
I especially wish to make contact with you about the tsunami in South East Asia with the aim of accompanying and strengthening you at this time of profound suffering and bewilderment which we are undergoing as citizens of the world, as Christians and as Franciscans. I also wish to support and strengthen the impulses and initiatives of generous solidarity which this unfortunate event, I’m sure, has aroused in all of you.
The tragedy of South East Asia affects us all, no matter where we live, and we cannot remain passive or indifferent before the pain of so many of our brothers and sisters. I know it is not so and that all of us are making our own the pain which directly affects so many people, probably even some of our own SFO Fraternity with whom we have not been able make contact. In the face of this tragedy, which affects the whole of humanity, I ask all the Order, all brothers and sisters, to mobilise with passion – there where you live – in order to collaborate actively and generously with the Church and civil organisations which are providing humanitarian aid to those affected. If it is possible for us, we should do so through our own initiatives or that of the Franciscan Family, but if not, by uniting as Franciscans - sent and supported by our Fraternity - in projects begun by other people or entities of ‘good will’ (R. 14).
During our last General Chapter we assured the Holy Father that: “we would commit ourselves to continue and develop, with all the imagination of charity, our service in favour of the most unfortunate ...
The Holy Father, on the same occasion, asked us: “... to deepen the true foundations of the universal fraternity and to create a spirit of acceptance and a climate of brotherhood everywhere. Let you commit yourselves firmly ... to struggle against all attitudes of indifference towards others ”.
May our fraternal service, at this time, be in accordance with the commitment made and through our sacrifice, our personal donation, our doing without material things, together with intense days of prayer that the tension of solidarity with the victims of this tragedy should not slacken and that Lord may take pity on those precious regions of our world, be our contribution to the wishes of the Holy Father at this precise moment. May they also be “the gold, incense and myrrh” which we present to Jesus at His Epiphany and a consolation to our brothers and sisters of South East Asia and may they be, in turn, a point of light and reference of love for those who are suffering around them.
With great confidence I affectionately embrace each and every one of you.
Your sister and Minister,
Encarnación del Pozo
SFO General Minister
1 January 2005
1. At the beginning of the New Year, I once again address the leaders of nations and all men and women of good will, who recognize the need to build peace in the world. For the theme of this 2005 World Day of Peace I have chosen Saint Paul's words in the Letter to the Romans: "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good" (12:21). Evil is never defeated by evil; once that road is taken, rather than defeating evil, one will instead be defeated by evil.
The great Apostle brings out a fundamental truth: peace is the outcome of a long and demanding battle which is only won when evil is defeated by good. If we consider the tragic scenario of violent fratricidal conflicts in different parts of the world, and the untold sufferings and injustices to which they have given rise, the only truly constructive choice is, as Saint Paul proposes, to flee what is evil and hold fast to what is good (cf. Rom 12:9).
Peace is a good to be promoted with good: it is a good for individuals, for families, for nations and for all humanity; yet it is one which needs to be maintained and fostered by decisions and actions inspired by good. We can appreciate the profound truth of another saying of Saint Paul: "Repay no one evil for evil" (Rom 12:17). The one way out of the vicious circle of requiting evil for evil is to accept the Apostle's words: "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good" (Rom 12:21).
2. From the beginning, humanity has known the tragedy of evil and has struggled to grasp its roots and to explain its causes. Evil is not some impersonal, deterministic force at work in the world. It is the result of human freedom. Freedom, which distinguishes human beings from every other creature on earth, is ever present at the heart of the drama of evil. Evil always has a name and a face: the name and face of those men and women who freely choose it. Sacred Scripture teaches that at the dawn of history Adam and Eve rebelled against God, and Abel was killed by Cain, his brother (cf. Gen 3-4). These were the first wrong choices, which were succeeded by countless others down the centuries. Each of these choices has an intrinsic moral dimension, involving specific individual responsibilities and the fundamental relationship of each person with God, with others and with all of creation.
At its deepest level, evil is a tragic rejection of the demands of love.(1) Moral good, on the other hand, is born of love, shows itself as love and is directed towards love. All this is particularly evident to Christians, who know that their membership in the one mystical Body of Christ sets them in a particular relationship not only with the Lord but also with their brothers and sisters. The inner logic of Christian love, which in the Gospel is the living source of moral goodness, leads even to the love of one's enemies: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink" (Rom 12:20).
3. If we look to the present state of the world, we cannot help but note the disturbing spread of various social and political manifestations of evil: from social disorders to anarchy and war, from injustice to acts of violence and killing. To steer a path between the conflicting claims of good and evil, the human family urgently needs to preserve and esteem that common patrimony of moral values bestowed by God himself. For this reason, Saint Paul encourages all those determined to overcome evil with good to be noble and disinterested in fostering generosity and peace (cf. Rom 12:17-21).
Ten years ago, in addressing the General Assembly of the United Nations about the need for common commitment to the service of peace, I made reference to the "grammar" of the universal moral law,(2) to which the Church appeals in her various pronouncements in this area. By inspiring common values and principles, this law unites human beings, despite their different cultures, and is itself unchanging: "it subsists under the flux of ideas and customs and supports their progress... Even when it is rejected in its very principles, it cannot be destroyed or removed from the heart of man. It always rises again in the life of individuals and societies".(3)
4. This common grammar of the moral law requires ever greater commitment and responsibility in ensuring that the life of individuals and of peoples is respected and advanced. In this light, the evils of a social and political nature which afflict the world, particularly those provoked by outbreaks of violence, are to be vigorously condemned. I think immediately of the beloved continent of Africa, where conflicts which have already claimed millions of victims are still continuing. Or the dangerous situation of Palestine, the Land of Jesus, where the fabric of mutual understanding, torn by a conflict which is fed daily by acts of violence and reprisal, cannot yet be mended in justice and truth. And what of the troubling phenomenon of terrorist violence, which appears to be driving the whole world towards a future of fear and anguish? Finally, how can we not think with profound regret of the drama unfolding in Iraq, which has given rise to tragic situations of uncertainty and insecurity for all?
To attain the good of peace there must be a clear and conscious acknowledgment that violence is an unacceptable evil and that it never solves problems. "Violence is a lie, for it goes against the truth of our faith, the truth of our humanity. Violence destroys what it claims to defend: the dignity, the life,
the freedom of human beings".(4) What is needed is a great effort to form consciences and to educate the younger generation to goodness by upholding that integral and fraternal humanism which the Church proclaims and promotes. This is the foundation for a social, economic and political order respectful of the dignity, freedom and fundamental rights of each person.
5. Fostering peace by overcoming evil with good requires careful reflection on the common good(5) and on its social and political implications. When the common good is promoted at every level, peace is promoted. Can an individual find complete fulfilment without taking account of his social nature, that is, his being "with" and "for" others? The common good closely concerns him. It closely concerns every expression of his social nature: the family, groups, associations, cities, regions, states, the community of peoples and nations. Each person, in some way, is called to work for the common good, constantly looking out for the good of others as if it were his own. This responsibility belongs in a particular way to political authorities at every level, since they are called to create that sum of social conditions which permit and foster in human beings the integral development of their person.(6)
The common good therefore demands respect for and the integral promotion of the person and his fundamental rights, as well as respect for and the promotion of the rights of nations on the universal plane. In this regard, the Second Vatican Council observed that "the increasingly close interdependence gradually encompassing the entire world is leading to an increasingly universal common good... and this involves rights and duties with respect to the whole human race. Every social group must take account of the needs and legitimate aspirations of other groups and the common good of the entire human family".(7) The good of humanity as a whole, including future generations, calls for true international cooperation, to which every nation must offer its contribution.(8)
Certain reductive visions of humanity tend to present the common good as a purely socio-economic state of well-being lacking any transcendent purpose, thus emptying it of its deepest meaning. Yet the common good has a transcendent dimension, for God is the ultimate end of all his creatures.(9) Christians know that Jesus has shed full light on how the true common good of humanity is to be achieved. History journeys towards Christ and in him finds its culmination: because of Christ, through Christ and for Christ, every human reality can be led to complete fulfilment in God.
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(1) In this regard, Saint Augustine observed that "two loves have established two cities: love of self, carried to contempt for God, has given rise to the earthly city; love of God, carried to contempt for self, has given rise to the heavenly city" (De Civitate Dei, XIV:28).
(2) Cf. Address to the General Assembly of the United Nations for its Fiftieth Anniversary (5 October 1995), 3: Insegnamenti XVIII/2 (1995), 732.
(3) Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 1958.
(4) John Paul II, Homily at Drogheda, Ireland (29 September 1979), 9: AAS 71 (1979), 1081.
(5) The common good is widely understood to be "the sum of those conditions of social life which enable groups and individuals to achieve their fulfilment more completely and readily". Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 26.
(6) Cf. John XXIII, Encyclical Letter Mater et Magistra: AAS 53 (1961), 417.
(7) Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 26.
(8) Cf. John XXIII, Encyclical Letter Mater et Magistra: AAS 53 (1961), 421.
(9) Cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, 41: AAS 83 (1991), 844.