Peace greatest value of development – Girasoli
Peace greatest value of development – GirasoliBy Masuzyo Chakwe
Sat 03 Apr. 2010, 04:01 CAT
GOOD FRIDAY: Lusaka’s St Ignatius Catholic Church yesterday joined several other denominations in commemorating the death of Jesus Christ - Picture by Collins Phiri
VATICAN Ambassador to Zambia Archbishop Nicola Girasoli has said there can be no development without peace.
In his Easter message, Archbishop Girasoli said peace was the supreme and greatest value.
“Without peace there is no development, without peace everything is lost. Our personal views should be always surrender to the good of the society. As Christians the most important is to be close to those who suffer, to be concerned and to help the poor, to struggle for improving those who are in need,” he said.
Archbishop Girasoli said Easter was the most important feast and spiritual event for Christian faith.
“The death and the resurrection of our Lord helps us to reflect on how we are living our faith and we all at Easter are encouraged to look forward with hope and joy. Life always prevails and through the Resurrection of our Lord, death is definitively over. In the first preface of Easter we proclaim that ‘Christ by dying He destroyed our death, by rising he restored our life’,” he said.
“Peace is the first and most important gift of Easter. Soon after His Resurrection, Jesus manifests Himself to the Apostles with the beautiful words ‘Peace be with you John 20, 21’.”
Archbishop Girasoli said Christians would always be promoters and defenders of peace.
He said promoting peace means to put in place even in the small circle of families, friends and communities those actions which overcome divisions, like gestures of forgiveness and speeches which help to look forward and not to the past.
Archbishop Girasoli said defending peace means to be ready to sacrifice or to give up to some of the personal and social expectations in order to keep the unity of families and society.
“Pope Benedict XVI, in the final Message of the Second Synod for Africa, celebrated in Rome last October, referring to the pastoral ministry, wrote that: ‘Priests should know how best to offer your services in a non-partisan, pastoral and evangelical way’ (N. 21). The Holy Father underlines that our ministry in order to be more effective should be non-partisan, which concretely means that we shall always be on the side of the Gospel, and on the side of God,” he said.
He said this concretely means that priests and more in general Christians were called not only to serve and help the poor, but also to speak about justice, peace and reconciliation as well as to give a voice to the voiceless and to the poor.
“But we shall do it always in God’s perspective and not according to our own views. May the peace given by the Risen Lord inspire in our beloved country of Zambia a common effort to overcome divisions and to privilege an open dialogue as the way to share and discuss different views promoting and defending always the unity and the peace that, thanks God, Zambia has always enjoyed,” stated Archbishop Girasoli.
Labels: NICOLA GIRASOLI, PEACE
posted by MrK @ 3:28 PM
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