Guidance for Christians in achieving inner peace
- New Testament literature reveals an important relationship between an individual's fidelity to the requirements of the gospel and their own sense of peace and wellbeing
- Christians can expect to find inner peace in and through living out their vocation as disciples of Jesus Christ and directing their lives towards the following of his teaching.
- Jesus is regarded as the bringer of peace and to live in close relationship to him and his teaching will allow the follower to experience this peace
- Jesus' life is seen as a model of living in peace
- Christians are encouraged to model their lives on his example in doing so they will be able to find peace
Integrity and Fidelity
- Integrity and fidelity to one's vocation fundamental to finding inner peace
- Not possible to achieve inner peace while experiencing turmoil and inner conflict due to compromising personal values
- Jesus faced temptations to compromise his integrity
- These temptations are about serving self or avoiding challenging situations
- Jesus' example shows the importance of being true to the values of the gospel and not being prepared to accept compromise
- Compromise would inevitably erode a sense of inner peace as it amounts to a lack of integrity and will result in inner conflict
- By refusing to be tempted Jesus retains his integrity and is able to faithfully go about his ministry
- Selflessness is a liberating quality which has a significant impact on the capacity to achieve inner peace
Prayer and Service
- Ministry of Jesus highlights prayer and service being kept in balance
- Jesus portrayed as a man of prayer who is frequently in communion with God Occasions of prayer are particularly evident leading up to significant moments in Jesus' ministry
- Prayer is a vehicle through which Jesus is able to nurture and sustain the relationship with God which is the source of his wellbeing and inner peace
- Prayer is something which followers of Jesus try to emulate in order achieve this sense of peace and serenity.
- Prayer is not a withdrawal from the events of daily life
- Prayer an opportunity to reflect on events and gain strength to face challenges Jesus' ministry conveys a sense of balance between prayer and contemplation on one hand and active service on the other
- Two elements are seen as complementary, not in competition with one another Prayer is seen as an essential adjunct to the active ministry
- Ministry is seen as a practical expression of the life of prayer
- Prayer enables the Christian to sustain and nurture their relationship with God Through prayer Christians draw meaning and understanding concerning day to day life
- Christians also gain strength and inspiration from prayer to enable them to meet daily challenges
- Service flows out of the contemplative element of prayer
- Understanding gained through prayer and reflection informs and guides the Christian to respond to the call to service
- Strength and inspiration gained through prayer enables Christians to rise to the challenges they may face in serving others.
- Christians are encouraged to find a balance between the contemplative and the active elements of life
- Overemphasis on prayer and contemplation can lead to insularity
- Overemphasis on active service can lead to burn out
- Either of these excesses will undermine the search for an inner peace
Community
- Christian community is an important source of help and support
- The unity exists in community assists in the search for inner peace
- Jesus' community of followers shared a great deal of his experience, learned from him and supported him in his ministry
- Elements of sharing, learning and supporting will assist individuals to find a harmony and sense of purpose in community which assists in the search for inner peace and wellbeing
- The absence of community leads to isolation and separation
- The breakdown or disintegration of a community through conflict, disunity etc will also have a negative effect on an individual's sense of wellbeing
Towards Inner Peace
- Following the example of Jesus is a fruitful and worthwhile path to find inner peace
- Various groups within the Christian tradition will have established methods of following this example
- These include the use of prayer, ritual and the reading of scripture, the service of others and the participation in community with those of similar beliefs
- A basic orientation in life which supports the quest for integrity and fidelity to the gospel is an important foundational element
- Not be possible to achieve inner peace while values are seriously compromised.
- Maintaining a balance between prayer and service is also fundamental to the quest for a sense of peace and wellbeing
- Both prayer and service are essential and each should support and draw from the other
- Engaging with a local community is also an important element
- Communities provide important occasions of interaction for sharing, for learning and for support
- The absence of meaningful community undermines the possibility of achieving inner peace
Contribution of Christianity to World Peace
- The Christian tradition makes significant contributions to world peace at a number of different levels
- These contributions include public statements by Church leaders, programs of action at local and international levels, organisations dedicated to bringing about peace, courses of study, commemorative days etc.
Public Statements
- Church leaders have frequently made statements in support of peace
- Some have been specific appeals for peace in particular circumstances however,
- Some have also published more comprehensive statements on the need for peace and the means of achieving it.
- In the Catholic community, one of the more well known statements was the 1963 statement of Pope John XXIII "Pacem in Terris" (Peace on Earth)
- In Pacem in Terris John XXIII discusses an issue of critical importance to the establishment of peace
- Other organisations such as the World Council of Churches and individual denominations such as the Society of Friends (Quakers) have also released many public statements relating to peacemaking
- In the months before the beginning of the 2003 Gulf War, Christian Churches in the United States made frequent public appeals to avoid the conflict
- The Society of Friends website contains excerpts from over forty statements from US Churches, many of them representing the views of groups of Church leaders from a particular State or region
- Similar statements were made throughout Europe and the UK
- In Australia statements were made by leaders of most major Christian denominations together with representative statement issued by the National Council of Churches of Australia (NCCA)
Programs and Organisations
- There has always been a tradition of opposition to warfare in Church communities
- Francis of Assisi is a famous example of opposition to war. Another interesting example
- The Society of Friends (Quakers), a Christian group with a pacifist stance.
- The modern peace movement has a strong link to Christian peace groups in its infancy.
- Movements such as the Catholic Worker movement led by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin have been prominent in the quest for world peace
- The Catholic worker movement developed an approach of active non-violence and often used civil disobedience as a means of protest.
- Another well known organisation is the international group Pax Christi who have pioneered peacemaking at an international level for decades
- In preparation for the coming of the third millennium, Pax Christi published a manifesto for a culture of peace and non violence.
- This manifesto came in support of the United Nations declaring a decade for a culture of peace and non violence beginning in the year 2000.
- Pax Christi's declaration contained 6 principles which it invited people to take up
- respect the life and dignity of every person without discrimination or prejudice
- practise active non-violence, rejecting violence in all its forms: physical, sexual, psychological economic and social, in particular towards the most deprived and vulnerable such as children and adolescents
- share my time and material resources in a spirit of generosity to put an end to exclusion, injustice and political and economic oppression
- defend freedom of expression and cultural diversity, giving preference always to dialogue and listening rather than fanaticism, defamation and the rejection of others
- promote consumer behaviour that is responsible and development practices that respect all forms of life and preserve the balance of nature on the planet
- contribute to the development of my community, with the full participation of women and respect for democratic principles, in order to create together new forms of solidarity
- The World Council of Churches in launched a campaign of a "Decade to Overcome Violence"
- This campaign provides an ecumenical dimension to the search for peace and highlights the commonalities held among Christian Churches in this area
- The campaign of the Decade to Overcome Violence has also highlighted the statistic that domestic violence is responsible for the deaths of more women worldwide than any other single cause
- Other important organisations include the Church and Peace alliances in Europe and the UK as well as the Kairos organisation in Canada and the USA .
- In Australia major Christian denominations have organisations which have responsibility in working towards peace
- These include the Uniting Church Board of Social Responsibility and the Australian Catholic Social Justice Council
- These organisations, together with the National Council of Churches of Australia have peacemaking as an important part of their mandate
- The element of working towards peace is carried out alongside other social concerns such as justice and ecology
- This highlights the close relationship between the search for a more just society and the search for peace
- Church organisations have frequently stated that the achievement of lasting peace will only be possible with a renewed social order where there poverty is substantially overcome and there is justice among people and between nations
Source
Click here
Click here
