Card. Parolin: peace without
cross is not Christ’s peace
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| Card. Pietro Parolin and South Korea President Moon Jae-in (centre) at the Mass for the peace in the Korean peninsula, Oct.17, 2018.- ANSA |
Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin
celebrated a Holy Mass on October 17 in Rome’s St. Peter’s Basilica, urging for
peace in the Korean peninsula.
By Robin Gomes
Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin
celebrated a Holy Mass Wednesday evening in Rome’s St. Peter’s Basilica praying
for peace in the Korean peninsula, saying that peace without crosses and
tribulations is not the peace of Jesus.
Present at the Mass were visiting South Korean
President Moon Jae-in (a Catholic), his wife, a large group of Korean faithful,
a hundred priests and missionaries, some bishops and many representatives of
the Holy See’s diplomatic corps.
The Holy See’s Press Office had announced that Cardinal
Parolin would celebrate the Mass on Oct. 17, on the eve of a meeting between
Moon and Pope Francis.
In his homily, Cardinal Parolin said that they were praying
for peace in the world, especially in the Korean Peninsula, so that “after so
many years of tension and division, the word peace may finally fully resound.”
Peace - God’s gift amidst tribulations
The Vatican’s number 2 after the Pope said that “peace is
built by daily choices, by a serious commitment to the service of justice and solidarity,
by the promotion of the rights and dignity of
the human person, and especially by caring for the weakest”. “But, for
the one who believes, peace, first of all, is a gift that comes from above,
from God Himself.”
The cardinal pointed out that peace is something lived
concretely in daily life, as Pope Francis often repeats, "a peace in the
midst of tribulations". This is why the peace promised by Jesus is
not the as the world gives but as He gives.
Citing Pope Francis again, who said that the world often
"anaesthetizes us so that we do not see another reality of life, which is
the cross," the Vatican Secretary of State said that the peace that God
offers us goes beyond merely earthly expectations. “It is not the fruit
of a simple compromise, but a new reality, which involves all the dimensions of
life, even the mysterious ones of the cross and the inevitable
sufferings of our earthly pilgrimage. For this reason, he said,
Christian faith teaches us that "a peace without the cross is not
the peace of Jesus".
Educating to love and build peace
Cardinal Parolin also recalled St. Pope Paul VI,
who in his message for the Church’s first "World Day of Peace" in
1968, cited St. John XXIIIsaying, “We must always speak of peace.
The world must be educated to love peace, to build it up and defend it.”
“Against the resurgent preludes to war [...]we must arouse in the men of our
time and of future generations the sense and love of peace founded upon truth,
justice, freedom and love.”
The Vatican Secretary of State urged all to implore God for
the grace to make peace an authentic mission in today's world, trusting in the
mysterious power of Christ's cross and resurrection.
“With God's grace,” he said, “the path of forgiveness becomes
possible, the choice of fraternity among peoples becomes a
concrete fact, peace becomes a shared horizon even in the diversity of those
who make up the international community.”
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