Peace is the Fullness of Life

     In the world of the Bible, peace is an expression of the fullness of life. Thus world peace is another way of considering the Reign of God, a place where the will of God is fully observed. In light of the Our Father we can say that the Reign of God happens when there is sharing (Give us today our daily bread) and forgiveness (Forgive us as we forgive). If peace is the fullness of life, the Reign of God, then it will be marked by sharing and by forgiveness. Through sharing and forgiveness human society will find the context for development of full life for all.
     In 1967 Pope Paul VI published Populorum progressio on social development. In it he notes that the new word for peace is development. The struggle of our time is to provide the tools which make it possible for societies to exercise the skills of sharing and of forgiving required for peace. This is a very practical task and, I think we are slowly learning, though at great cost.
     Part of that learning is the global effort to provide a context for resolution of conflicts and disparities. The leading organization in this regard is the United Nations, flawed as it may be in so many ways. We need to include here also all the international institutions which are supposed to assist the process. Ideally these would include the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organizations, etc. Unfortunately, these organizations seem to have had a largely negative impact.
     Finally, we also need to take into account civil society movements including the labour movement, the human rights movement and countless civil society organizations and movements who struggle to assure that, when the sharing of goods happens and when conflicts arise, society takes into account all the various groups that make it up a society.
     It is also become clearer where the major obstacles lie. Unfortunately they have proven to be extraordinarily resilient in re-adjusting to the various crises we face. The major obstacle is the narrow search for profit that multinational corporations have carved out for themselves in the governance of world affairs. Their greed has led to a situation where over half of the world lives at best a subsistence lifestyle while a very small minority have enormous wealth and power. Somehow they have managed to convince even themselves, that the concentration of wealth and power is best for all.
     In addition they have reserved to themselves the major tools for assuring the preservation of their wealth and power. When these are threatened they have at their disposal enormous resources for shaping public opinion and when that fails their military strength is staggering. Their violence in using military options is presented as the defense of human liberty and participation.
     No simple recipe exists in the global context of multiple sovereign nation states, subservient of course to business and military interests, to assure that the various populations of these states will have an equitable share of the economic benefits of their societies, nor that their aspirations will be taken into account in national or international governance.
      The rise of civil society where citizens organize to express their aspirations collectively has become a major force to counteract this influence. The emergence of electronic communication has remarkably strengthened their ability to monitor and influence global trends.
     If there is to be peace in the world of tomorrow, we must begin now by establishing mechanisms for sharing and for resolution of conflict at all levels and we must become much more organized in promoting these goals and monitoring their implementation. It is the experience of civil society organizations that provide the best hope currently for nurturing true participatory democracy where citizens have a voice in assuring a climate of peace through reconciliation and sharing. It is incumbent on governments to pay close attention to these voices and to allow them to find their place in the global dialogue for peace.