Apostles For Today
October 2021

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. (John 14, 27-28)

     The chapter "Paths of a new meeting" is about building peace and about beginning with truth through social friendship, through forgiveness and overcoming inevitable conflict. 

   Jesus gave his daily words a new sacred meaning. Such as "peace" or "forgiveness."    In the above words of Jesus there is the awaited peace of the Messiah. Each of us is the architect of such a peace on the way to God. There is also a harbinger of a conflict because it is related to the struggle for the Truth. Peace without Jesus is an earthly peace that keeps us captive. The room of the Tower of Babel is built for a superficial earthly unity because it is based on the status quo. Meanwhile, Jesus teaches us that we unite in Him and not in our earthly world, transforming and growing for Him, remaining different people, culturally and socially different. 

    Earthly peace is based on collective forgiveness, thus freeing the individual from change, from talking about conversion. There is some madness of the mind that resorts to elevating the reflection to the level of large numbers, countries, national and social agreements, earthly boundaries. The more human tragedies are hidden under the name of war or national and social conflicts, the more they appear to be complex, foreign and independent phenomena. The easier it is for us to escape from a reflection on ourselves and the specific interpersonal relationships surrounding us.

    "Give each other the sign of peace" is, however, an invitation to individual action. So what about this one particular person, my neighbor, my colleague at work and the daily forgiveness of anger, jealousy, humiliation, violence. What language, what kind of conversation should I use?

       I am a foreigner living in Denmark for over 30 years and I think I know a lot about the complications of evangelistic communication that creates the peace of Jesus. It's not just finding a common language, but everything behind it. What is the word peace, mercy and forgiveness for me, a Catholic, and what is it for my Muslim or atheistic neighbor? Mercy and forgiveness in Islam have various interpretations, but it is the prerogative of Allah in the work of Judgment Day’s justice and can also mean punishment (Quran 6: 147ff; 49:29). The way for forgiveness is the Koran (27:77, 81). For an atheist, "love" and "peace" have only earthly value, and forgiveness is based on a cause--effect relationship. "Truth" is relative - as for Pilate. Furthermore, it should even be hidden and erased from reality in the way forgiveness works for cancel culture and relates to ideologies of political correctness - even having an element of revenge (Fratelli tutti 226- 227) 

    For a Christian, on the other hand, God is infinite love. "I understand and I forgive" for me is reaching to the very source of sin, transformation, conversion and absolute love that lifts me to God who is the Truth.

     We are all children of God, but in the confused map of languages, we build peace and forgive ourselves in completely different ways. Scandinavian countries rank first in surveys on happiness. Positive thinking dominates here, enjoying the instantaneous and fleeting moment and the small things in life. Hygge has become a known word worldwide as a relaxed way of life. However, it is obvious to a foreigner that this positive mentality feeds on silence. Silence about crises, problems and reactions to evil. Forgiveness in the Christian mentality is not forgetting (Fratelli tutti 250). These are the dilemmas that Jesus talks about, to which the rich young man approaches, presenting himself as a good, humanitarian and merciful person, asking if there is anything else he can do (Mt 19:20). Jesus' answer is total dedication to God. It is not a conversation in which two people exchange opinions, but a dialogue that serves the purpose of proclaiming the Good News and waiting for conversion. 

I am looking for a sign of Jesus' peace in "dialogue, in quiet conversation or in heated discussion" (Possiamo cercare insieme la verità nel dialogo, nella conversazione pacata o nella discussione appassionata) (Fratelli tutti, 50). 

Originally, Latin "conversatio" meant a targeted interaction with the world with a built-in transformation, a change in the way oflife, in relation to meeting other people. So, a conversation for a Christian does not have to be a normal, relaxed social interaction, but a part of a conversion (the verb "versare").

    In the language of St. Francis of Assisi and St. Benedict's "conversatio" refers to sacrum and perhaps it is a sign of our times that the meaning of the word has faded into a casual conversation. Sacrum is pushed out of the tongue and yet it is the architect of Jesus' peace and the expected conversion. Just as the removal of God from the word "peace" pushes us to the paths of noncommittal, eternal negotiations and aimless conversations, because it just confirms the obvious fact that we are different. Even the Platonic word "dialogue" contains "logos" in the original, which for us may refer to the work of Creation. St. Pallotti teaches us the transcendental meaning of Jesus' words by adding an absolute dimension to the most important ones. So "love" is infinite! "Dio dell'Amore infinito e della Misericordia infinita". As Jesus

formulated it in the original Greek of the Gospels: agape (ἀγάπη).

    I chose the story of the young man because it fits the country where our little Pallotti community lives. Denmark is one of the richest countries and a society that  anticipates excessively in humanitarian programs around the world. But at the same time, it is a spiritual desert in which, in all spheres, it avoids discussions on religious and even spiritual topics in general. So there comes a time when, by being rich, and by devoting your time and resources to helping others, you get to the point where you ask, "Is there anything else?", "What's next?" The quickest answer these days seems to be… fitness and yoga. These two spheres of life are expanding astronomically, especially among young people.

     And here it is - a young man who has just returned from the morning fitness and is trying to fill the day with some meaning. We do not speak the same language, because the sacrum does not exist for my interlocutor, and he will not understand that sacrum is as real as the bread that is eaten for breakfast. In conversation and dialogue, there is always a conflict, that is, a clash of two worlds. Jesus says about it (Mt 10, 34-11, 1): "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but the sword. " But he adds in the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5:10): "Blessed are the meek." The contradiction is apparent but can be understood in the original meaning of the words. First, the Greek word "machaira (μάχαιρα)" is not a traditional sword

that we associate with the image of medieval battles. It is a single-blade knife with which we separate good from evil.

    The Greek word "meek" (οἱ πραεῖς) connects us with the adjective "praos", that is, gentle, tamed. It refers to a force that is restrained. For example, a wild horse that becomes obedient. Thus, by combining these two statements, we are to reflect the pattern of Jesus, who has unlimited power, but is able to "tame" his divine powers by keeping the sword in its scabbard. It changes the world with the Good News.

As Christians, we are extremely strong with love and support in God. We are not small and helpless. On the contrary, by carrying a sword hidden in a scabbard, we are heading towards God's love and peace. Dialogue is just a means of transport.

    This is my conversation with my neighbor, colleague in need, brother and sister who asks "is there anything else?"

Mr. Caesar Szwebs, Denmark