Peace and Remembrance

Prayers always raising up this primal need

and yet we fail to see within that it must begin with me.

Each day another sad story comes across the news

and we wonder why and if this will ever end.

Are we doing all we can to build a culture of respect?

and so, to say with assured hope, “we will remember them.”

Canadians are called into remembrance each November eleventh

and we must ask ourselves: is it enough to only remember?

Each day provides us with a new opportunity to work for the common good

and remembrance is a part of this with my actions being those of  PEACE.

Franciscans are often known for their efforts of working towards peace because of the actions of St. Francis. The attributed “Prayer of St. Francis” is a constant echo not just for Franciscans but for all of us. As we consider each of those lines from that prayer, they call us to peace because they call us to selfless action.

where there is hatred, let me sow love

where there is despair, hope

where there is darkness, light

grant that I may not so much seek

to be understood as to understand

to be loved as to love

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned

The prayer asks us to look beyond ourselves and see how our actions either enhance peace or rob it not only from ourselves but from so many others. It must be begun with us.

As we pause on this Remembrance Day, as we see the sea of poppies red, let us be aware that the wars we fight today can be stopped if we look at our lives with selflessness and how we are people of peace. Remembrance Day is for remembering wars long past and wars most recent. Is it not also time to start remembering that peace begins with us, not those over there or those down the street or those from that church?

Blessed are the peacemakers: 

for they shall be called children of God. 

– Matthew 5.9

Let us be peace peacemakers.

Let us remember.