Principles – “Peace” – Saturday 30th of December, 2017

   Tomorrow, we are bidding farewell to a year that carries much of the events that filled our days. Some of them caused us sadness and others brought us happiness. Thus, we are bidding it a farewell with mixed feelings of sadness and happiness, joy and distress, success and failure. With the end of the year, I find myself unable to talk about anything but peace, the lost peace in the world between the words that call for it and the actions that shatter it to add to the confusion of innocent people about the meaning of life.If peace is the gift of heaven to us, it is also like seeds that need care and attention so that it grows and the world can be shadowed by it.

   Peace plays a great role in life and we have to fulfill our roles toward making peace prevail with actions rather than words. Actions speak louder than words; as the influence of words evaporates quickly. If you truly seek peace, start by yourself by growing its seeds in your life, that is, your heart, feelings and thoughts; till it turns into light that illuminates your life daily especially at time of distress. Peace begins in our hearts and its fulfillment should be done by us. In case of waiting for people to bring us peace for being unaware of what was mentioned, we will keep on going through this journey of life without realizing or achieving it. So if you understand this, you can go home and start making peace with your family first.

   Many times people vary in their character and their viewpoints contradict with one another even if they belong to one family. Each person has to learn to coexist with others or else he would be as if living on a lonely island thinking that the other person is dangerous and should be terminated. Hence, life will turn into a war that ends with the death of all the fighters.

   Let me ask, have you ever seen a peaceful society while families are fighting one another? This is the beginning; family is the starting point. In family we learn and practice the principles of peace. Hence, we can shake hands with others with peace, so it prevails in our society.

   Peace that man offers is the sign of his faith in God, the Lord of peace, the peace Maker and the Blesser of all who acts peacefully. Thus I offer a call to the whole world, to every person on earth and every person in the position of charge: let our new year be a year of true peace that we truly express with actions and teachings as well. It is enough for those who do not value peace to flip the pages of history back to its previous event so that they may realize the influence of rivalry, fight, hatred and abomination, that not only did it affect those who were facing them, but also those who practiced it; not to mention the consequences that led to death and destruction. In return, the opposite should be regarded, the consequences of having peace in one’s life and how this lead to spreading peace, security and prosperity in the life of others.

General Bishop

Head of the Coptic Orthodox Cultural Center