By James Breedlove
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. Luke 2:13-14
Pope John XXIII, in his 1963 encyclical on establishing universal peace wrote, “Peace on Earth—which man throughout the ages has so longed for and sought after—can never be established, never guaranteed, except by the diligent observance of the divinely established order.”
What is that divinely established order? God created man “in His own image and likeness,” endowed him with intelligence and freedom, and made him lord of creation. This is what is proclaimed in Psalm 8:5-7 where it says: “For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels: thou hast crowned him with glory and honor, and thou hast made him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet.”
This divine plan for universal peace, truth, justice, charity, and liberty was placed in man’s innermost being by GOD the Creator and is revealed to man through his conscience. But the conscience can be overridden by man’s free will. And therein is the source of the terrible conflicts that are so prevalent in the world.
Many people think that the laws which govern man’s relations with the secular State are the same as those which regulate the Creator’s universe. But it is not so; the laws which govern men are quite different. The Father of the universe has inscribed them in man’s nature where they often lie dormant.
The world will never be at peace, till peace has found a home in the heart of each and every man; till every man understands for himself the divine natural order ordained by God and acts according to that natural order.
But now, as we close out the season of Peace on Earth and Good Will Toward all Men, there is still disunity among individuals and nations which is in striking contrast to this perfect universal order that God ordained.
The lack of acceptance and understanding of God’s universal order for peace, harmony and the common good has evidenced itself in the onerous discord and divisiveness on health care, the war in Afghanistan, civil liberties, global climate change, the economy, and rogue nation diplomacy.
One of the principal imperatives for the common good is the recognition that a firmly established order between political entities must be founded on the unshakable and unmoving law of universal peace which was ordained by the Creator Himself.
Its principles are beacon lights to guide the policies of men and nations. They are also warning lights which men must heed if their laborious efforts to establish new world orders are not to be beset by constant adversity.
As we know from experience, men frequently differ widely in knowledge, virtue, intelligence and wealth, but that is no valid argument in favor of a system whereby those who are in a position of cultural, scientific, or economic superiority to exert unjust political domination over other nations. It does mean that those in superior positions should make a greater contribution to the common cause of social progress.
The fact is that no one can be by nature superior to his fellowman, since all men are equally noble in natural dignity endowed by the Creator. And consequently there are no differences at all between political entities from the point of view of natural dignity since each entity is composed of members who are human beings.
Therefore, a regime which governs mainly by means of threats and intimidation or promises of reward, provides men with no effective incentive to work for the common good. For this reason wise rulers should appeal to the individual conscience, to the duty which every man has of voluntarily contributing to the common good.
It is clear then that no State can fittingly pursue its own interests in isolation from the rest, nor, under such circumstances, can it develop itself as it should. The prosperity and progress of any State is in part consequence, and in part cause, of the prosperity and progress of all other States.
The outpouring of Christmas love each year has become a perfunctory chore goaded on by artful commercialism rather than an unselfish opening of the heart. The Prince of Peace would probably be thoroughly dismayed at the gross materialism that drives the Christmas celebration.
If man continues on this path of acrimony and strife that undermines the natural dignity endowed to all men by the Creator then the world will be beset by the words in Revelations.
And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see. And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another. Rev 6:3-4
We, who were created in HIS own image, owe it to God to stop destroying his creation through willful disregard of HIS established order for universal peace.
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