Peace — Theme for the Second Week of Advent
By Rochelle Cassella
“The Prince of Peace is born.”
Peace on earth, goodwill toward people.”
“Peace be with you.”
We use the word “peace” year-round and often, but it takes on special significance during Advent, when it becomes the focus during the season’s second week. And as hope has layered meanings, peace is more than the absence of conflict.
The spiritual meaning of peace is about the wholeness and tranquility that comes from God’s presence. Jesus’ birth reconciles humanity with God and with each other. And while we can’t take any action that reflects the word’s deeper meaning, we can reflect on it in quiet meditation, and we can practice peace’s conflict-free meaning by reconciling with those we have distanced ourselves from over differences of opinion. We can ask forgiveness of those we may have hurt through our words or actions. And we certainly can pray for an end to war, to language that threatens the safety and dignity of others and to all hate in general.
The ‘peace’ candle in the Advent wreath is also known as the Bethlehem candle because it relates to the journey Mary and Joseph took to Bethlehem. Ironic, considering the ramping up of ICE raids on illegal immigrants in New Orleans and the twin cities of Minnesota that began last week, and public comments that disparaged Somalians in the U.S.
This week, the Prayer of St. Francis seems especially appropriate:
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.”
“Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy.”
“O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love.”
“For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.”
