by Richard Niyukuri

In August this year, Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, the Archbishop of Kinshasa, beatified three Italian Xaverian missionaries and a Congolese priest who were killed in the 1964 Simba uprising in Eastern Congo.  Xaverians Fr Luigi Carrara, Fr Giovanni Didonè and Brother Vittorio Faccin, died alongside Fr Albert Joubert, a priest of the Diocese of Uvira.

They had been warned of an impending rebel threat but chose to stay in the country as it navigated its transition to independence. On 28 November Simba rebels executed the priests in Baraka and Fizi, two locations in the east of the country.

Cardinal Ambongo urged Congolese to draw inspiration from the martyrs on their sixtieth anniversary and to work for peace and reconciliation.   A Xaverian theology student in the Phillipines reflects on the meaning of peace today.

In my country, Burundi, people greet each other by uttering ‘Amahoro’ – Peace. Wishing people peace puts them in a state of peace and can help them become peacemakers in the world.

Many countries are experiencing war: Ukraine and Russia, Israel and Palestine. They have caused uncountable damage to infrastructure, loss of human life, and impinged on development. People suffer in many ways; they lose their loved ones and belongings and are displaced. The number of victims continues to surge. People are tired; they need peace. As instruments of Christ our Peace (Ep 2:14), each of us is asked to work for peace in places that have become theatres of wars and insecurity. We are asked to assist those who lack peace and to live in peace. This leads us to the understanding of two kinds of peace: external and inner peace.

How do the Sacred Scriptures reflect this two-fold meaning of peace?

Peace in the Old Testament

The Israelites, on their way to the promised land, experienced a number of wars and were always praying to God to help them defeat their enemies. In the book of Leviticus, the Lord responded to their prayers, ‘I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none will make you afraid ...’ (Lv 26:6). The Israelites increasingly came to understand peace as a gift from God whereby they came into harmony with God’s will for them and all creation. The psalmist proclaims the truth simply and directly, ‘In peace I shall both lie down and sleep, for you one, Lord, make me secure’ (Ps4:9). Here, we understand that peace comes to us as a blessing from God, but it is also the goal towards which we strive. Thus, the Psalmist declared, ‘Depart from evil and do good; Seek peace and pursue it.’ (Ps 34:14.)

Br. Richard Niyukuri sx is a Xaverian theology student in the Philippines.

Photo by Sunguk Kim on Unsplash