Arquivo para December 23rd, 2024
Christmas and peace
23
Dec
In the midst of wars and hatreds, it is possible
to find peace ? and what peace we are talking about.
The roman´s pax was the rule of the Roman Empire over nations and territories, Kant’s eternal peace, although it has something to commend it when it talks about peace for all, in reality the idea was born out of the peace between the Byzantine Empire and the Sassanid Empire (see map), a treaty of indefinite duration, which concluded the Iberian War (527-531) between two imperial powers.
There was also a religious peace, called the Peace of Westphalia, where the agreement between Catholics and Lutherans took place, as there were kingdoms declaring war over religion.
The peace of Christmas, even if it is paganized, is that which the birth of Jesus promised to bring among men, of which he said: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. I do not give it as the world gives it. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (Jn 14:27).
Yes, we are promoters of wars in our midst, between family members, between work colleagues, we don’t accept opinions and worldviews that differ from our own, we may not use weapons, but by spreading hatred and exclusion we are seeking a peace that has nothing divine about it, it’s just “our peace”, and there is no shortage of oratory and speeches asking us to ignore the Other.
So what kind of peace should we be thinking about at Christmas? The vast majority of people probably haven’t even heard of the Iberian War, nor of one of the empires involved, the Sassanids.
We see a world in imperial wars, everyone wants to colonize or eliminate their neighbor.
So the “imperial” wars we are involved in, even if it’s as a “cheer”, in the distant future will be seen as a period of atrocities and unjustifiable disputes. Of course, today the arguments seem plausible, there is no shortage of narratives to justify so much death and hatred, but they will not be eternal and there is nothing divine about them, even if religious people get involved in these worldly disputes.
The peace of Christmas transcends all this, it must proclaim more than a truce, a laying down of arms, the end of hatreds and grudges, and this peace that Jesus came to bring to the world.
