How are you working for peace this Christmas time?

Christmas doesn’t always seem like the most peaceful time of year- it can often involve us rushing around buying last minute Christmas gifts with seasonal music blaring over the tannoy. However, the great number of cards with images of doves and messages of peace and goodwill serve as a reminder of the deeper, more meaningful message of peace at this time of year.

Advent can be a chance to reflect on the issues of peace and justice in our lives and the world around us. Many of the readings from Isaiah and Psalms that we will hear during this advent season speak of God’s peace and justice. However, one of the most popular Christmas cards at Pax Christi features a quote from Howard Thurman, who says that it is after the glow of Christmas that the work for peace and justice begins: “When the song of the angels is stilled…The work of Christmas begins; to find the lost; to heal the broken; to feed the hungry; to release the prisoner; to rebuild the nations; to bring peace among people; to make music in the heart.”

On the weekend of National Youth Sunday, I had the privilege of joining the ‘Celebrating Young People Awards’ alumni gathering. We shared and reflected on their work for social justice and learnt about how other people have answered this call. The reflection, fellowship and learning resulted in some rewarding and challenging conversations. We were inspired by one another and felt even more keenly the call to work for peace and justice, that impels us to act.

So, before the Christmas music fades and the sales start, let us take a bit of time to reflect. Let’s ask ourselves how are we working for peace, how are the people around us working for peace and how can we inspire each other to continue to work for peace once Christmas is over?

By Aisling Griffin, Schools and Youth Education Officer, Pax Christi UK

‘We love because we are loved’

Last month I was able to make time for a pre-Advent retreat. I was invited to reflect on Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus. As I read the passage I was aware of how familiar it was; I knew what I had read and what I was going to read. After the first reading of the passage I decided to read it again, slowly imagining myself in the story. And to my surprise something completely unexpected hit me and remained with me. Following the visit of the angels to the shepherds it says that the shepherds “left running”. These were shepherds who were tending to their sheep on a hill-side, and they left running! I’m not sure if you have ever seen shepherds herding sheep, but I can’t imagine that these shepherds would have run with their sheep to see the baby Jesus. Yet they must have left them. They left their sheep!

These sheep were the shepherds’ livelihood, they were their security, and they left them. What an act of witness this is. They left the security of their lives to go to Bethlehem and visit Jesus. And what an incredible impact it had, not only on their lives, but others, too. Later in the passage it says, “All who heard the shepherds were impressed”. Others had seen that they had left their sheep, their security and livelihoods to go in search of Jesus. This act of witness is not on its own. In the Gospels we also hear about the fishermen, who were also called to leave their homes and families to travel with Jesus and spread the good news.

If I put myself in that position, I ask myself, ‘could I do that?’ Could I leave the security of my life, the people I love, to offer my life to Jesus? In other words, do I love Jesus enough to trust in him and his plan for my life? That might seem quite dramatic, but as a Catholic there are often times in my life when I have to give up or leave behind something I love for Jesus. For example, I have to leave the comfort and the warmth of my bed early on a Sunday morning to make time for Mass. I sometimes have to postpone plans with friends to spend time with Jesus in adoration. Or I make the extra effort to do something to help others, by putting my faith into action, which often takes giving something of myself.

Over the course of the past month, I have also been leading a ‘Faith in Action Award’ reflection point with a group of young people. We were reflecting on ‘We love because we are loved’. If I think about the love that Jesus has for me, then I know I have to do my best to love Jesus that much, too. Therefore, this Advent I have decided to ask myself this question: ‘Do I love Jesus enough to make time, space and opportunity for Him to be truly present in my life, so I can be His hands and feet on this earth, His eyes of compassion?’ This is the challenge I have set myself and will be used as an opportunity to prepare myself for the coming of Jesus. I will prepare my heart to welcome and love him with all of my life.  

Kate Wilkinson (All Hallows, Preston Chaplain)

Spend time looking for Christ

Advent is a time to prepare. For the coming of Jesus Christ, sure, but also for preparing an inordinate amount of food, presents, and for yourself to see all those family members who only seem to be around at Christmas. Jesus is central to Christmas, but the season demands so much more of us these days. By January we are often left stuffed, stressed and ready to go back to our day to day lives.

However, this advent I offer you a challenge. Of course, you should still do all of the celebrating, eating and greeting outlined above, but I challenge you to spend some time looking for Christ.

Not in the cherub like statue that is in your Church’s manger, but in the young people you encounter.

Young people embody the youth of Christ, yet they are often cast aside for not attending mass enough or are blamed for the problems of the day. We tend to only see the worst in young people, recalling examples of failed encounters, or simply passing off working with them as being too hard, and not rewarding enough.

This could be true, but not because young people are young. It’s because building relationships takes time. As a Church, we cannot expect young people to be falling at our feet asking for help and accompaniment. In many cases young people wouldn’t even know where to turn. However, this doesn’t mean we can’t offer our services to young people and work with them in new and engaging ways.

But as a Church, we need to ask ourselves how prepared are we really? We may offer the odd youth mass, and one Sunday each year dedicated to young people, but can we truly say that we have begun preparing to work with young people, in ways that will be fruitful, supportive and inclusive?

Maybe that’s what we should be preparing for this advent? Preparing for the coming of Christ in the form of young people. Pope Francis reminds us that God ‘is at work in the life of each young person’. The question we need to ask ourselves is: are we missing God’s works and wonders by marginalising young people?

This advent don’t miss out on the joys of young people, or the miracles that God works through them, instead start looking at the potential to work with them and be prepared to be taken to new and beautiful places.

By Sophie Aulton (Million Minutes)