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Peacemaking:Extending God's Charity Through Justice

“First, when you set out to do some good work,
beg God with most insistent prayer to bring it to completion.”

(Rule of Benedict, Prologue 4)

If, having prayed and experienced conversion of heart, we believe we need to be doing some new action or to stop doing something we have been doing, we have a challenge on our hands. Change is not always easy.

I may sense in my prayer and reflection that God would like me to care for the earth in concrete ways, but it may not be convenient for me just to start recycling, or to use fewer polluting products, or simply to consume less. If I sense from my prayer and reflection that God’s love would dictate that all children should receive a sound foundation, I may have to work a little to find out how to channel my good will into action. Do I financially support a GED program? Do I tutor at the local elementary school? Do I petition my legislators to give children in poverty more attention? How do I decide where to start? I need to return to prayer.

“Let us set out on this way with the Gospel as our guide. “

(Rule of Benedict, Prologue 9 )

The challenge and call of the Gospel is to proclaim God’s love. Of course there are a million and one ways to do it! Each of us needs to pray and listen to hear our own call. What is my role in God’s dream for the world?

Benedictine prayer is designed to show that God is right in the world around us. In the Rule of Benedict, Christ is everywhere present in others. This contemplative vision is addressed in chapters about the abbot/prioress, the cellarer, the infirmarian, the poor, pilgrims, elders, and the young. If Christ is in the other, how shall I treat him or her? How would Jesus treat this person?

“Seek peace and pursue it,” quotes Benedict. If you want peace, work for justice. If you love someone, show it. Charity in action is about peacemaking, about justice. It is about living and loving in peace. It is about caring for the other and empowering her to follow God’s call in her own life. It is about making sure everyone has enough. It is both soothing gentle care and a gnawing challenge. It is action that intrinsically requires prayer.