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VOICE OF PEACE
By Amira
Ysabela Azarcon
La
Consolacion College, Tanauan City
Champion - Essay Writing Contest
Anak
Batangueno Congress
November 10, 2006
Canossa Academy
“Blessed
are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God.”
This is one of the
Eight Beatitudes mentioned in the Holy Bible. This beatitude talks
about peace and how blessed those who will promote for it will be.
Questions were asked about this beatitude. Questions like, who are the
peacemakers and how can I be one? Peace has its own way of talking and
it has the ability to clear the thoughts of those confused minds.
Nowadays, more
people think that we are already experiencing peace, but the truth is,
we do not. Peace is not merely an absence of war and tragedies. Peace
is the feeing of being secured and protected. It is clearing the
thoughts of insecurities, doubts and fear.
There is one
Catholic Teaching, an encyclical letter of Pope John XXIII called Peace
on Earth, in Latin, Pacem in Terris. According to this, peace means
development in all the aspects of humanity.
Truly, peace is
being more and having more. Peace is development. With these
statements, we can therefore say that everyone is responsible for
preserving peace.
The Responsibility
or preserving peace lies within everyone. All of us are responsible for
this matter. We have a responsibility as individuals to preserve peace
and we also have the responsibility as a community.
As individuals, we
live our own lives in a way we want it to be. We can also preserve
peace in our own way, in a way we want it to be.
If peace means
development, then we have to start within ourselves. We have to develop
as individuals, so that all of our insecurities will vanish and that is
the time we are ready to preserve peace.
Big things come from
small ones. Our simple insecurities may lead to envy, jealousy and the
likes and these may cause huge troubles that may affect everyone, and
most of all, these may cause the destruction or damaging of ourselves.
As individuals,
developing self-respect, self-love and self-discipline is the same as
preserving peace in our own way and we are ready to take another step
higher which is preserving peace as a community.
Unity is a strong
bond that is capable of keeping us together, but unity can never be
possible without other values or virtues for unity is a compound virtue
which our world is in need of at present.
Self-respect is
necessary, but respect for others is far more needed. It is because
giving respect to others is receiving the same respect one has
expressed. This is one value which is needed to achieve unity.
Love, care and
concern for one another are also important ingredients to complete the
formula of unity. When the time unity is achieved comes, we may already
preserve peace not only as a community, but as one.
Knowing the
responsibility of preserving peace is, indeed, a process all of us must
undergo. To preserve peace is a great task entrusted to everyone. We
are all obliged to preserve peace.
Now, the questions
have been answered. Peace has already spoken the words only minds could
hear and only our hearts could understand. The thoughts of those
confused minds have already been cleared.
All of us are
invited to be peacemakers, to promote peace and preserve it, but we must
not only do our responsibilities because of the prize that awaits the
peacemakers, instead, we must preserve peace for the sake of ourselves
and of everyone.
Peace is now
talking. Hear her voice with your minds and understand her message with
your hearts. Hear her plea. Hear her begging. As people of God, let
us be aware of the responsibility of preserving peace.
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