“DO NOT BE OVERCOME BY EVIL, BUT OVERCOME EVIL WITH
GOOD”
Text
of Pope's Message for World Day of Peace, January 1, 2005
(Summary by the Catholic
Action Commission of Lorain County – emphasis added)
1. For the theme of
this 2005 World Day of Peace I have chosen Saint Paul's words in the Letter
to the Romans: "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good"
(12:21). Evil is never defeated by evil; once that road is taken, rather
than defeating evil, one will instead be defeated by evil.
Peace is a good to be
promoted with good: it is a good for
individuals, for families, for nations and for all humanity; yet it is one which
needs to be maintained and fostered by decisions and actions inspired by
good. …The one way out of the
vicious circle of requiting evil for evil is to accept the Apostle's words:
"Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good" (Rom
12:21).
Evil, good and
love
2. …Evil is not some
impersonal, deterministic force at work in the world. It is the result of human
freedom. …At its deepest level, evil is a tragic rejection of the demands
of love.(1) Moral good… is born of love, shows itself as love and is
directed towards love. …The inner logic of Christian love, which in the
Gospel is the living source of moral goodness, leads even to the love of one's
enemies: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him
something to drink" (Rom 12:20).
The "grammar" of the
universal moral law
3. …Ten years ago, I
(first) made reference to the "grammar" of the universal moral law
(2)…. By inspiring common values and principles, this law unites human
beings, despite their different cultures….
4. This common …moral
law requires greater commitment & responsibility in ensuring that the
life of individuals and peoples is respected and advanced. …I think
immediately of…Africa, where conflicts (have) already claimed
millions of victims…. Or the dangerous situation of Palestine,
…where the fabric of mutual understanding, torn by a conflict which is fed daily
by acts of violence and reprisal, cannot yet be mended in justice and truth.
And what of the troubling phenomenon of terrorist violence
…driving the whole world towards a future of fear and anguish? (H)ow can we
not think with profound regret of the drama unfolding in Iraq, which
has given rise to tragic situations of uncertainty and insecurity for
all?
To attain the good of
peace there must be a clear and conscious acknowledgment that violence is an
unacceptable evil and that it never solves problems. "Violence is a lie, for it
goes against the truth of our faith, the truth of our humanity. Violence
destroys what it claims to defend: the dignity, life & freedom of human
beings".(4) (A) great effort
(is needed) to form consciences and educate the younger generation to
goodness by upholding that integral & fraternal humanism which the
Church proclaims….
The good of peace and the
common good
5. Fostering peace by
overcoming evil with good requires careful reflection on the common
good(5) and on its social and political implications. …Each person,
in some way, is called to work for the common good, constantly looking out
for the good of others as if it were his own. This responsibility belongs in a
particular way to political authorities at every level… called to create (the)
social conditions which permit and foster in human beings the integral
development of their person.(6)
…The good of humanity as a whole calls for true international
cooperation, to which every nation must offer its contribution.(8) …Yet the common good has a
transcendent dimension, for God is the ultimate end of all his
creatures.(9)…
The good of peace and the
use of the world's goods
6. …(T)he ethical
requirements for the use of the earth's goods must always be taken into
account…. As a member of the human
family, each person becomes as it were a citizen of the world, with
consequent duties and rights.…
The condemnation of racism, the protection of minors, the provision of
aid to displaced persons and refugees, and the mobilization of international
solidarity towards all the needy are nothing other than consistent applications
of the principle of world citizenship.
7. …The good of peace
will be better ensured if the international community takes on greater
responsibility for what are commonly called public goods. …We need but
think of the fight against poverty, the promotion of peace and security, concern
for climate change and disease control. The international community needs to
respond to these interests …(by) regulating the use of public goods and
inspired by universal principles of fairness and
solidarity.
8. The principle of the
universal destination of goods can also make possible a more effective approach
to the challenge of poverty, particularly when we consider the extreme
poverty in which millions of people are still living. The international
community …(has) set the priority of halving their number by the year 2015.
The Church supports and encourages this commitment and invites all who
believe in Christ to show… a preferential love for the
poor.(12)
The tragedy of poverty
remains closely linked to the issue of the foreign debt of poor
countries. Despite significant
progress in this area, …growth is still quantitatively insufficient, especially
in relation to the millennium goals. Poor countries remain trapped in a
vicious circle: low income and weak growth limit savings and
weak investments and an inefficient use of savings do not favour
growth.
9. …(T)he only really
effective means of enabling States to deal with the grave problem of poverty is
to provide them with the necessary resources through foreign financial
aid — public and private — …within the framework of international
commercial relations regulated with fairness.(14)
10. (I)n my Apostolic
Letter Novo
Millennio Ineunte (2000), I spoke of the urgent need for a new creativity in
charity,(16) …to spread the Gospel of hope in the world. This need is clearly
seen when we consider the many difficult problems standing in the way of
development in Africa: numerous armed conflicts, pandemic diseases
aggravated by extreme poverty, and political instability leading to
widespread insecurity. These are tragic situations which call for a
radically new direction for Africa: …to create new forms of solidarity …with
complete conviction that the well-being of the peoples of Africa is an
indispensable condition for the attainment of the universal common
good.
…Achieving (these goals)
calls for a new political culture, especially in the area of international
cooperation. …Today more than ever,
a decisive condition for bringing peace to the world is an acknowledgement of
the interdependence between wealthy and poor countries, such that
"development either becomes shared in common by every part of the world or it
undergoes a process of regression even in zones marked by constant
progress".(17)
The universality of evil
and Christian hope
11. …Based on the
certainty that evil will not prevail, Christians nourish an invincible
hope which sustains their efforts to promote justice and peace. …(H)ope
constantly gives new impulse to the commitment to justice & peace, (and)
firm confidence in the possibility of building a better world. …Christians, especially the lay
faithful, "should not, then, hide their hope in the depth of their hearts, but
rather express it through the structures of their secular
lives…".(19)
12. No man or woman of
good will can renounce the struggle to overcome evil with good. This fight can
be fought effectively only with… love. When good overcomes evil,
love prevails and where love prevails, there peace prevails. This is the
teaching of the Gospel, restated by the Second Vatican Council: "the fundamental
law of human perfection, and consequently of the transformation of the world, is
the new commandment of love".(20)
…Christians must be convinced witnesses of this truth. They should
show by their lives that love is the only force capable of bringing fulfillment
to persons and societies, the only force capable of directing the course of
history in the way of goodness & peace.
…Through the new life
which Christ has bestowed on us, we can recognize one another as brothers and
sisters, despite every difference of language, nationality and
culture.
…(B)y sharing in the one bread and one cup, we come to realize that we are
"God's family" and that together we can make our own effective contribution
to building a world based on …justice, freedom &
peace.
JOHN PAUL
II –
From the Vatican, 8 December 2004.
(Full
text available at: < http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/messages/peace/
>)