Disturbing legacy

“Peace be with you…. Peace be with you.  As the Father has sent me, so I send you.... Receive the Holy Spirit.” (From today’s Gospel message, Jn. 20: 19-23).

Christ’s dream for the world is also His divine legacy to us. But how ironic it is that the legacy of peace that He passed on to us is most disturbing. God does not want us to be just passive watchers and onlookers while He gradually unfolds His dream for creation. He wants us to be with Him. That is how close He is to us. He wants us all to be one huge, grand family of creation — close to His heart as the Father of us all.

In our Gospel reflections two Sundays ago, we saw how God created the world for just one purpose: LOVE. The only meaning of life on earth. Let us reflect further on this.

God wants us to be disturbed from our complacency and passivity in simply receiving His legacy of peace with a grateful heart, period. Instead, He wants us to be His active partners and close friends in spreading this legacy of peace to as many others as we can. This is God’s way of divinizing us, as we learned from the very beginning of creation.

“God created man in his image; in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them” (Gen. 1: 27).

This is how much God loves the human person. You and me. Not for us to be just pieces or parts of His divine creation, but to be God’s beloved partners, co-creators, and friends in accomplishing God’s plan for creation. “You are my friends if you do what I command you” (Jn. 15: 14). God’s dream for the world is “where human beings live in harmony and friendship with God, with one another and with the whole creation….Can you think of anything better to do with your life than to accept God’s offer of friendship and to join in the family business founded on the dream of a planet where the lion and the lamb, the Jew and the Palestinian, the Muslim, the Jew, the Buddhist, the animist, the atheist and the Christian sit down together? I cannot think of anything better” (Wm. Barry, S. J., “Making Friends with God in the Real World,” Human Development, Spring 2008).

This is our legacy of peace from the Disturbing Peacemaker. How are we doing at this point in time? What more can we do if we are to really contribute in accomplishing the divine dream? The success of it all will depend on our humble surrender to the Divine Spirit of all creation, whoever we are, and whatever is our culture, race, religion, and status in society.

The typical Filipinos are peace-loving and God-oriented. It’s a matter of being motivated and led by the right people at the right times and for the right causes. Back in 1986, we rallied together courageously and peacefully, thus putting an end to the Martial Law regime through active non-violence. The presence of the Divine Spirit was there all the way. Again, in 2001, Edsa 2 with a vengeance. The inter-sectoral convergence of hearts, minds, and spirits was awesome. Politicians, businessmen, churchmen, the rich, middle-class, and the poor were once more united as in Edsa I. Once again, it was peaceful and non-violent. No less than a moral-political miracle. Again, God the Holy Spirit was there.

Now, here we are, today. The nationwide rallies last May 1 were peaceful, but the issues of higher wages and state controls on the prices of food commodities must be followed up with the administration. These and other critical political, economic, and social issues must be pursued, discerning where the Holy Spirit is calling our leaders from all levels of government: executive, legislative, and judicial. Unity and mutual cooperation is where God is calling them at this point in time, and they better listen! Peaceful and God-centered decisions and actions for the common-good of our nation. No more, no less. Otherwise, an Edsa III is bound to happen, in God’s own time.

A ray of light appeared just this past week, when the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) signed an agreement with the Department of Agriculture to help make our country rice self-sufficient within three years. Let us support this all the way.

All of the above have to do with our societal response to God’s legacy of peace. What about our personal, individual responses? Where is the Holy Spirit calling you, so that you can be His close friend, active partner, and co-creator in accomplishing God’s dream for our world? Are you willing to be disturbed?