THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK: Offaly columnist prays for a peaceful New Year

EVERY new year is a time of new beginnings. We look behind us and remember the many shoulders we stand upon that have brought us to this point in our lives and we look forward to the surprises time will offer us as we move into the future. New Year’s Day always seems awkward to celebrate. Doubly awkward, if we remember that it is also the World Day of Peace.

It is hard to be enthusiastic about New Year’s Day because of a conflict within ourselves and within our world. We imagine it as a day for new beginnings but our mind tells us that the world, and we ourselves as part of it, will continue mostly unchanged. Most of us have at some time made New Year resolutions to live a changed and better life, only to find that three or four weeks later we carry on living as before.

Similarly the World Day of Peace holds before us an ideal world where conflicts will stop, nasty social media postings will turn to encouragement, bombs and guns will be allowed to rust away, and family fights will be resolved. Yet we have seen each year that wars continue and that peace remains an impossible ideal.

Hope of peace

War does not solve any problems, it only sow's death and destruction. It increases hatred, multiplies revenge. War erases the future. This last year of 2024 has been a year of war and rumours of war. Lives lost, children killed in huge numbers, people displaced, fear and suspicion overwhelming many communities in our country and around the world. These wars are also contributing to the destruction of our environment. It feels as though we have moved backwards in our efforts to bring peace and justice to our world. In this most worrying time for our world, the subject of peace, above every other, commands the reflective attention of all people of reason and good will. It is eminently fitting to write these few words about peace as we enter into the new year of 2025, as peace is the most precious good to ask of God at this time and to build with every effort, by means of concrete gestures of peace on the part of every man, woman and child of goodwill. As individuals, we earnestly desire peace.

We want peace in our homes, in our countries, in our relationships with one another and in our world. We want peace in our innermost thoughts and feelings. Our Lord decreed peace for us again and again: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid” (Jn. 14:27). We share the common heritage of peace with all people everywhere. If we think of people in other lands as being strange or different or as “the enemy,” we should recall the questions the prophet Malachi asked: “Have we not all one father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another?” (Mal. 2: 10). All people, regardless of language barriers and racial and cultural differences, have the same hopes and fears, the same challenges and aspirations, the same need for love, care, compassion, mercy and understanding. We are alike in so many ways. Surely we can pray and really work hard together for peace!

Be inspired

When we pray and work hard for peace, for peace in our hearts, in our families and in our broken world, we realise how valuable peace is, how sought after it really is. But we’re also aware of how rare and fragile true peace is. Peace is a gift to which one must attend. As a gift, it is not unlike a plant one might receive: it cannot be left there, it must be watered, it must be nourished, it demands attention, loving care and very hard work. Peace demands constant hard work, constant vigilance. Building peace is a reality into which we must insert ourselves as we go forward into this new year of 2025. Peace is a gift, but the hard work of achieving peace is ours.

Making and creating peace is not some job, something on which we can close the door at the end of our working day. Peacemakers can never rest on their laurels, not even in times of peace. Peace demands our ceaseless hardworking efforts, courage, endurance and our constant prayer. So as we begin this new year of 2025 we pray that the Peace of God, which is a peace built upon welcome, upon dignity, upon mercy, upon hard work and prayer, upon forgiveness and upon justice, must take flesh in us, before it can take root in the world. We are called to pray and work hard for peace. We are called actively to pursue peace. Blessed are peacemakers, said Jesus. Blessed are those who go the second mile (see Matt 5:41), blessed are those who have compassion with the stranger, and blessed are those who work “to turn swords into ploughshares” (see Isa 2:4). Peace-making is an active process. Christ did not say, “blessed are those who receive peace!” But blessed are those who make peace. Let us in 2024 be inspired by Christ, the Prince of Peace, the one who on the cross, subverted hatred and greed, and became the way of true and enduring reconciliation. Let us immerse ourselves in his work for peace in our world and in our hearts. May the Holy Spirit who brought Christ to life in Mary, bring the Prince of Peace to life in us. May the Spirit strengthen us, and guide our feet on the way of this hard work for peace into 2024 and always (see Luke 1:79).

"War in pieces"

Up to recently, maybe a few years ago in the lives of many of us, we thought that we had entered an era of peace, not perfect peace, not global peace, but peace that could progressively extend to further parts of the world. This is why, when Pope Francis, a few years ago, warned that we were close to a “Third World War in pieces,” I thought he was exaggerating things.

But Pope Francis might have spoken with sad foresight, as he often does, when he coined that expression.

Because as we look in anguish at the destruction of Gaza and Lebanon and the conflict between Israel and Palestine after having watched Ukrainian neighbourhoods devastated by Russian rockets for the past two years; peaceful Sudanese cities savaged by armed groups; communities in Ethiopia torn apart by violence and war; Afghanistan drifting from years of civil strife into an apparent tranquillity in which women’s rights are totally denied and when we look at this litany of crises, one after the other, we can only conclude the same. We live again, I am afraid to say in a time of war, hate and greed. A "Third World War in pieces."!!

Big rifts

A time in which with increasing impunity, people pick up arms to kill, rape, destroy and above all seize power. A time of great global divisions perhaps the most severe that we have seen in maybe most of our living memory. No matter where we look and which issue is discussed, we see, we feel those divides, from global geopolitics to local communities. We are almost driven to polarization, as if it had become impossible to consider different perspectives: ‘be with us, otherwise you are not good; not loyal; and not deserving of respect and rights’.

The big rifts: north/south; east/west, rich/poor, strong/weak, have been made even more visible by the unequal and inequitable response to the COVID-19 pandemic; by the responses to the Russian invasion of Ukraine; the hidden conflicts in Sudan and Ethiopia; and continuing now putting us at risk of a fracture that could be irreparable by the war in Gaza and Lebanon and the many forgotten conflicts in so many parts of our world that are ongoing at this moment. Our world is full of hurting families and countries torn apart by war and violence.

Over 2 billion people, about one-third of the world’s population, live in countries with conflict, violence, terroism or fragile internal systems, according to the World Bank. These are places with the greatest humanitarian needs, where children, families, and communities struggle to acquire the basic necessities of life. It can be difficult to know how to help people in need. One of my most abiding wishes and prayers that I say daily is, "we all live in peace together." I light one of my daily candles for that prayer to come true constantly. We have seen what peace can do for people in Northern Ireland. But you only have to watch the news or read the papers to find conflict and suffering in every corner of our world. Through prayer, we can “seek peace and pursue it” (Psalm 34:14). Pray with me this new year of 2025 for peace for fragile countries and conflict zones in our world and for children and families living through difficult times in places like Ukraine, Israel, Gaza, Palestine, Lebanon, Sudan, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Ethiopia and many other places in our world.

Inspirational leaders

The causes of this unrest and lack of peace may seem complex, but I believe the root of much of it is one group trying to impose its will on another. The motives may be political, religious, greed, terroism or racism, but it amounts to the same thing. One group sees itself as 'right' and others as 'wrong'. Religion and politics are often used to justify such claims. Another thing I often think to myself is that it is ironic that the objective of war is to create Peace! In order to have a better, more peaceful world we must learn to think of the globe as a whole. Our world leaders need to be more selfless and sacrificing.

Only by having a universal, peaceful and spiritual vision can we bring positive change into the political and world field. A person who is really interested in making positive changes will never resort to violence to effect political reform. The approach has to be nonviolent and peaceful. Anything achieved through violence will not last long; it will leave an enemy sitting somewhere plotting against you. If instead, you make a friend, you need not be afraid of the other person; and he or she need not be afraid of you. Permanent peace can never be achieved by violent means. Remember, there is no power higher than love.

Hatred breeds hatred; violence breeds violence. If we sincerely want world peace, we have to depend on our soul force, not on anything else. When our efforts fail, when we have nothing else, then we think of a Higher Power and turn to that force. And that is what soul force is and that is also what prayer is all about. Mahatma Gandhi was a great example of this principle. He demonstrated that, by being a peaceful activist and trusting in soul and prayer power, one could liberate an entire country. That is how India gained her independence. Mahatma Gandhi, U Thant, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, Eleanor Roosevelt, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and others were great humanitarians in public life. We need more people like these to lead and inspire. Many times we wonder, is finding peace in the midst of all that is happening in our world at present even possible? One quote reminds us, “Peace. It doesn't mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. It means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart.” Another says, "No God, no peace. Know God, know peace." And both are true. As usual a story from my Nana Scully's prayer book might help to explain.

Peace in your heart

"There once was a King who offered a prize to the artist who would paint the best picture of peace. When the entries were in, the King looked at all the pictures. There were only two he really liked. One picture was of a calm lake. The lake was a perfect mirror, with four peaceful towering mountains all around it. Overhead was a blue sky with fluffy white clouds. All who saw this picture thought that it was a perfect picture of peace. The other picture had mountains too, but these were rugged and bare. Above was an angry sky from which rain fell and lightning played. Down the side of the mountain tumbled a foaming waterfall. It did not look peaceful at all. However, when the King looked, he saw a tiny bush growing in a crack in the rock behind the waterfall. In the bush a mother bird had built her nest. There, in the midst of the rush of angry water, sat the mother bird on her nest, perfectly at peace.

The King chose the second picture, because, he said, “Peace does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. Peace means to be in the midst of all those things and still be calm in your heart. That is the real meaning of peace." We often look at the outside world and find it in a state of chaos and disorder. We cannot bring to the world that which we do not have to offer. Peace starts in our own minds and heart, and until its roots are firmly entrenched in our own selves, we cannot manifest it externally. As Eleanor Roosevelt said, ‘It isn't enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn't enough to believe in it. One must work hard at it.’

We need peace

Recently we have also seen a surge in various forms of nationalism, racism, hate, xenophobia, wars and conflicts that bring only death and destruction in their wake. These and other events that marked humanity’s path these past few years have taught us how important it is to care for one another and for creation in our efforts to build a more fraternal society. We who are here together and in peace believe and hope in a fraternal world. We desire that men and women of different religions and none may everywhere gather and promote harmony, especially where there is conflict. Our future consists in living together. For this reason I pray in 2025 that we hear the call to free ourselves from the heavy burdens of distrust, fundamentalism and hate. Believers should be makers of peace in their prayers to God and in their actions for humanity!

A fraternal society of care as a way to combat the culture of indifference, waste and confrontation so prevalent in our time. We can no longer think exclusively of carving out space for our personal or national interests; instead, we must think in terms of the common good, recognizing that we belong to a greater community, and opening our minds and hearts to universal human fraternity. We cannot continue to focus simply on preserving ourselves; rather, the time has come for all of us to endeavour to heal our communities, to lay the foundations for a more just and peaceful world, and to commit ourselves seriously to pursuing a good that is truly common. In order to do this in 2025, and to live better lives we cannot ignore one fundamental fact, namely that the many moral, social, political and economic crises we are experiencing are all interconnected, and what we see as isolated problems are actually causes and effects of one another. Consequently, we are called to confront the challenges of our world in a spirit of responsibility, fraternity, community and compassion. We must promote actions that enhance peace and put an end to the conflicts and wars that continue to cause poverty, abandonment, homelessness and death. We urgently need to join in caring for our common home and in implementing clear and effective measures to combat climate change.

We need to battle the virus of inequality and to ensure food, water, shelter and dignified labour for all, supporting those who lack even a minimum wage and find themselves in great difficulty. The scandal of entire peoples starving remains an open wound in all our world. We also need to develop suitable policies for welcoming and integrating migrants and those whom our societies discard such as our own homeless people and families. Only by responding generously to these situations, with an altruism inspired by God’s infinite and merciful love, will we be able to build a new world which is a world of love, justice and peace. Each of us in 2025, men and women of this time, is called to make peace happen, each one of us, we are not indifferent to this. We are called to make peace happen each day and in every place we live. This peace must begin with us; we must be at peace inside, in our hearts and with ourselves, and with those who are near us. Peace, is a gift from God, which must be implored from God with incessant prayer, sustained with patient and respectful dialogue, constructed with an open collaboration with truth and justice and always attentive to the legitimate aspirations of individuals and peoples. They alone with hard work and actions are what can bring inner calm and peace at times to a whirlwind crazy mindless and evil world.

Prayer for peace

We need to look at ways you can bring real, lasting and genuine peace into your own life and the lives of those around you. If peace is what you seek in 2025, focus your thoughts on this Prayer For Peace - "Dear God, I need your peace now. Silence my thoughts of confusion. Silence my thoughts of anxiety. Silence my thoughts of grief or despair. Silence my thoughts of hurt or anger. When there is chaos and turmoil surrounding me, shelter and protect me with your peace and loving, powerful presence. As I take this time to stop and pray, fill me with your peaceful presence. With each breath I take, I breathe in your peace that surpasses all understanding.

Help me to focus on peace instead of unrest. I surrender my unrest to you so that I may receive peace. Help me to be a spark that ignites peace in others. Amen". And finally my own favourite prayer for peace, Dear Lord, Our world waits in darkness longing for Your light. In the midst of darkness, enkindle our hope. As we long for lasting peace in the midst of war and terrorism, Be with us. As we long for families to be reunited, Be with us. As we long for homeless and abandoned people in our communities to be cared for, Be with us. As we long for enemies to be reconciled, Be with us. As we long for cures and healings, Be with us. As we long for decent jobs, decent homes and shelter and economic security, Be with us.

As we long for love and community, Be with us. Fulfill the deepest longings of your people and Dispel the darkness in our hearts and in our world. Let your Word ignite the hope the world needs to bring to life your love and justice. May the Virgin Mary, who gave birth to the 'Prince of Peace' (Is 9:6), and who cuddles him thus, with such tenderness in her arms, obtain for us from heaven the precious gift of peace. Nothing is impossible if we turn to God in prayer. O God, help me to believe in new beginnings and in beginning again this New Year, no matter how often I’ve failed before. Help me to make new beginnings: to begin going out of my weary mind into fresh dreams, daring greatly to make my own bold tracks, In the land of now; to begin forgiving that I may experience mercy; to begin questioning the unquestionable, that I may know truth; to begin disciplining that I may create beauty; to begin sacrificing, that I may accomplish justice; to begin risking, that I may make peace; to begin loving, that I may realize joy. Help me to be a beginning for others, to be a singer to the song-less, a storyteller to the aimless, a befriender of the friendless; To become a beginning of hope for the despairing, of assurance for the doubting, of reconciliation for the divided; To become a beginning of freedom for the oppressed, of comfort for the sorrowing, of friendship for the forgotten; To become a beginning of beauty for the forlorn, of sweetness for the soured, of gentleness for the angry, of wholeness for the broken, of peace for the frightened and violent of the earth. Help me to believe in a new beginning, to make a beginning, to be a beginning, so that I may not just grow old, but grow new, Each day of this wild, amazing life you call me to live with the passion of Jesus Christ. Amen

Thought for the week

As your thought for the week and for this coming New Year of 2025, don't ever forget for even a second how very important and how very special each and every one of us Are. Here is a story to finish this thought from my Nana Scully's prayer book about a person asking God what he would wish for each one of us for this new year of 2025. "As God, what would you ask your children to do for the new year of 2025?"

He said, "To learn that what is most valuable is not what they have in their lives, but who they have in their lives. To learn that a rich person is not one who has the most, but is one who needs the least. To learn that they should control their attitudes, otherwise their attitudes will control them. To learn that it only takes a few seconds to open profound wounds in persons we love, and that it takes many years to heal them. To learn to forgive by practising forgiveness. To learn that there are persons that love them dearly, but simply do not know how to show their feelings. To learn that money can buy everything but happiness. To learn that while at times they may be entitled to be upset, that does not give them the right to upset those around them. To learn that great dreams do not require great wings, but a landing gear, to achieve. To learn that true friends are scarce; he or she who has found one has found a true treasure. To learn that it is not always enough that they be forgiven by others, but that they forgive themselves. To learn that they are masters of what they keep to themselves and slaves of what they say. To learn that they shall reap what they plant; if they plant gossip they will harvest intrigues; if they plant love they will harvest happiness. To learn that true happiness is not to achieve their goals, but to learn to be satisfied with what they already achieved. To learn that happiness is a decision. They decide to be happy with what they are and have, or die from envy and jealousy of what they lack. To learn that two people can look at the same thing and see something totally different. To learn that those who are honest with themselves without considering the consequences go far in life. To learn that even though they may think they have nothing to give, when a friend cries with them, they find the strength to appease the pain. To learn that by trying to hold on to loved ones, they very quickly push them away; and by letting go of those they love, they will be side by side forever. To learn that even though the word "love" has many different meanings, it loses value when it is overstated. To learn that they can never do something extraordinary for Me to love them; I simply do. To learn that the shortest distance they could be from Me is the distance of a prayer."

God bless and Happy New Year to each and everyone of you that reads or shares my column and may the future be bright and safe for you and all your family, friends and colleagues. Please try to love deeply from your heart in 2025 for the good of everyone, especially those most in need in our communities and the world and for those most in need of peace in their lives. My Hope for you is that you will celebrate the good things in life in 2025. Life is not meant to be a burden. Life is not a problem to be solved. It is a blessing to be celebrated. Learning to celebrate joy is one of the great practices of spiritual life. It confirms our trust in God. It affirms the greatness of creation. It seals our dependence on God. It attests to the beauty of the present and asserts our confidence in the beauty of the future. It recognizes the mercy and love of God.

When we celebrate the good things in life, we trace them to God who gives without merit, open handedly, out of the very goodness of community, love, and support that are by nature at the base of the human condition. So in these first days of 2025 keep in mind those 18th century words: “I shall pass through this world but once. Therefore any kind act that I can perform for any fellow-creature, let me do it now. For I shall not pass this way again.” 2024 was tough. For me, for many. But I hope and pray that 2025 is a year filled with love, growth, and the presence of the Spirit, for me, for you, for all of us. As you reflect on your own year, what’s stirring in your heart? What do you want to do differently in 2025? Let’s make it a year of intentional prayerful living with action and meaningful growth, together. ‘Le Cúnamh Dé’, may 2025 be a good peaceful year in our lives.

The blessings of God and a happy New Year of 2025 to one and all.