Skip to content

iBenedictines

The world seen from the cloister . . .

  • About
  • Contact
  • Colophon Blog
  • Links
  • Donate
  • Cookies
  • Privacy Policy

the pax logo

Peace Sunday 2020

Sunday, 19 January, 2020 by Digitalnun
Pax logo by Digitalnun

Today, the second Sunday of Ordinary Time, is Peace Sunday — a day the Catholic Church sets aside for prayer and work for peace, a supplement, as it were, to the Church’s World Day of Prayer for Peace celebrated each year on 1 January. This year’s theme, set by Pax Christi, is ‘Peace as a Journey of Hope: Dialogue, Reconciliation and Ecological Conversion’ which echoes that of day two of the Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity. If that sounds a little fuzzy and vague to you, it is brought into sharp focus by today’s hope for peace talks to end Libya’s civil war. As yet, no one knows whether they will actually take place, still less is anyone prepared to guess whether they will be successful (see this report from the BBC: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-51161758). But the prospect of peace means more than a nice warm glow about good intentions; for the people of Libya it is a matter of life and death, a stark choice which, for some alas, is no choice at all because it will be made for them by those who have a vested interest in ‘winning’.

St Benedict has a lot to say about peace in his Rule, but never sees it in terms of winning or losing. It is, rather, the context in which a community flourishes. Peace is to be our quest and aim (cf RB Prol 17) because it gives life. The image above is a variation on the Benedictine pax logo which I designed for a friend’s stole. The thorns that simultaneously bar the way to peace and protect it are made of barbed wire — one of the ugliest inventions of modern times with which we are all too familiar. They are a reminder of the contradictions frequently inherent in our prayer and work for peace, and the fact that these are embroidered on a priest’s stole is also a reminder, to me at least, of the price paid by the Prince of Peace who broke down, in his own body, the hostility between us and made us one (cf Ephesians 2.14).

With that in mind, a question to ask ourselves this morning might be: what barriers to peace and unity have we erected in the mistaken belief that we were protecting something precious? Are we peace-makers — or destroyers?

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail
Categories Catholicism, Church, Monastic life, World Tags peace gives life, Peace Sunday, peace talks to end civil war in Libya, RB Prol 17, second day of the Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity, the pax logo 5 Comments

ARCHIVES

SEARCH THIS BLOG

Donate via Wonderful Payments

Wonderful Payments is our preferred option as no fees are payable.




Our other sites

  • Holy Trinity Monastery | Desktop Site
  • Holy Trinity Monastery | Mobile Site
  • Sign-up to receive our Newsletter
EnglishFrenchGermanItalianPortugueseRussianSpanish

Follow Us

Facebooktwitterlinkedinrssyoutube

Tag Cloud

advent almsgiving blogging Christ Christian Christmas Church compassion faith fasting forgiveness freedom God grace gratitude holiness Holy Week humility internet Jesus joy lectio divina Lent liturgy love Mary monastery nuns peace Pope Francis prayer redemption repentance Rule of St Benedict scripture service silence society St Benedict Syria truth violence vocation wisdom women
CNMAC Blogger of the Year 2013

COMMENT POLICY

Comments are welcome but will be held for moderation before posting. Please observe the same standards of courtesy and decency you would like to receive from others. We want this to be a friendly space for people to explore opinions and ideas.

QUOTATION POLICY

You are welcome to quote extracts, with due attribution, but please remember that images are not available for sharing as we may not own the copyright for all of them. Where images have been used, every effort has been made to ensure that the correct permission or licence has been obtained for their use. In the case of any oversight, please communicate directly with the monastery so that the appropriate action can be taken.

RSS iBenedictines RSS feed

  • Mary, Mother of God, 2022
  • A Personal Message from Sr Catherine (a.k.a. Digitalnun)
  • Gaudete Sunday 2021: Pure Joy
  • ‘Tis the Season to Be Jolly — Or Is It?
  • Mountains and Molehills: In the Desert with John the Baptist Again

COPYRIGHT

All posts are copyright © 2010 – 2022 Trustees of Holy Trinity Monastery, Company No. 7487215, Registered Charity No. 1144001.

© 2022 iBenedictines • Built with GeneratePress