You cannot have peace without humility and where there’s arrogance, you’ll always have war.
According to Vatican Radio, this was at the heart of Pope Francis’ homily today during his daily morning Mass at his residence Casa Santa Marta, as he gave three attitudes necessary to building unity in the Church, and also in daily life.
Drawing inspiration from the greeting at Mass “peace be with you,” Francis’ homily examined what is required to nurture peace and unity: humility, gentleness and magnanimity
Francis noted that our Lord’s greeting “creates a bond” of peace and unites us, to create a unity of spirit. He warned that if there’s no peace and if we aren’t able to greet each other in the widest sense of the word, there will never be unity.
This concept, the Holy Father explained, applies for unity in the world, in the town, in the district and in the family.
“The evil spirit always sows wars,» he said, noting, «Jealousy, envy, conflicts, gossip…. are things that destroy peace and therefore there cannot be unity.»
«And how should a Christian behave to promote unity, to find this unity?» the Jesuit Pontiff went on to ask. «Paul tells us clearly: ‘live in a manner worthy, with all humility, gentleness and magnanimity.’
«These three attitudes: humility – we cannot sow peace without humility. Where there is arrogance, there is always war and the desire to defeat the other and believing one is superior. Without humility, there is no peace and without peace, there is no unity.”
Nowadays, the Holy Father lamented, we have lost the ability to speak gently and instead tend to shout at each other or speak badly about other people. Rather than this, Francis encouraged, rediscover gentleness, and “be patient and put up with the faults of others, or the things we don’t like.”
“First: humility, second: gentleness with this mutual support, and third: magnanimity: a big heart, a wide-open heart that can accommodate everybody and that does not condemn, that does not become smaller because of trifling things: ‘who said that,’ ‘I heard that,’ ‘who…’ no, a large heart, there is room for everybody.»
These three elements, Francis reiterated, «creates the bond of peace» and are the right way to respond to that call to the mystery of the Church and of Christ.
“The mystery of the Church is the mystery of the Body of Christ: ‘one faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all’ and who works ‘through all and in all:’ this is the unity that Jesus asked the Father to grant us and we must help create this unity with the bond of peace. And the bond of peace grows with humility, with gentleness and mutual support and with magnanimity.”
Pope Francis concluded, praying, «Let us pray for the shepherds who are at the end of their lives and who are waiting for the Lord to take them with Him. And let us pray so that the Lord may give them strength, consolation and the certainty that, although they feel sick and alone, the Lord is with them, close to them.”
