At a time when the world urgently needs it, today marks the anniversary of the death of a great witness of reconciliation of the Church in Brazil. From listening to the Amazonian populations to the missions in Nicaragua and Lebanon, the commitment to a peace built starting from overcoming the fear of the other
Never as in recent times has the world needed to listen attentively to the prophets of peace. Among them we recall the Brazilian bishop Monsignor Luciano Mendes de Almeida (1930-2006), who died seventeen years ago in Sao Paulo (Brazil) of liver cancer on August 27, leaving us a beautiful testimony of the Gospel lived without “ifs” and without “but”. Faith in Jesus Christ translated it into service to the brethren, above all to the least of society, as we have highlighted in another article. Leading the Brazilian Bishops’ Conference, first as secretary general and later as president, he constantly worked for peace in Brazil and in other parts of the world.
The commitment to peace
“We must rebuild peace: this is God’s will”. Categorical statement by Dom Luciano Mendes. It was not a slogan, but a certainty that drove him both to denounce injustices and crimes against human dignity and to enter the field, personally, whenever the stability of peace was in danger. In Brazil, for example, he sided with the indigenous populations, whose survival was – and still is – threatened by economic interests. He traveled to the state of Roraima, in the extreme north of Brazil, to hear the claims of the Yanomami people, endangered by garimpeiros (gold seekers) and groups interested in mineral extraction. Later, in Brasilia, he met with about thirty parliamentarians from different political parties, with representatives of the Council for the Defense of Human Rights, the Order of Lawyers and other entities, seeking a peaceful resolution. With the same prophetic spirit, he spoke for the indigenous peoples Krenak (Belo Horizonte – Minas Gerais) and Arara (Aripuanã – Mato Grosso) to speed up the process of delimitation of their territories and the reappropriation of some of their areas. He did not remain silent in the face of the massacre of the Tikuna people that took place in Benjamim Constant, in the state of Amazonas. Dom Luciano’s commitment to peace went beyond the borders of Brazil. In 1980, in Nicaragua, he brought solidarity to the survivors of the tragic earthquake and bombings that occurred during the revolution. Eight years later, he reached Lebanon, where a civil war was raging. In the midst of so many risks, he offered himself as a mediator. He listened to the victims of the Lebanese conflict, visited Christian refugee camps and bombed buildings, met local political and religious authorities and encouraged them to take the path of dialogue. He spent four hours in private conversation with Samir Farid Geagea, leader of the Lebanese revolution. The contribution of the Brazilian bishop was decisive for the reconstruction of peace in Lebanon.
Overcome the fear of the other
“How would it be possible to live with others if we could not believe in them?” Dom Luciano asks in one of his writings. It is true, there is no peace when suspicion reigns in interpersonal or international relations. Fear leads to defending oneself from the other, seen as a threat and not a gift. Unfortunately, as Archbishop Mendes already pointed out, “in the current situation of society, the most powerful nations have created a climate of profound distrust”, the practical consequence of which is the arms race. The sad result can only be this: “a peace obtained through tension, an unstable peace because it is based on mistrust and mutual fear”. The way forward is decidedly another: to overcome the fear of the other and place oneself in a sincere attitude of “faith in one’s brother”, to “discover the formula for happiness: to live together”. It is not a naive or utopian vision, but a proposal – that of Dom Luciano – which arises from a theological observation: “God did not create me [soltanto], he created us, to be able to live together, to love us, to help us». In fact, “those who withdraw into themselves will never be able to rejoice in the good of others”. Understanding this means being disposed to peace.
Peace begins with oneself
Peace, however, is the result of a deep internal craftsmanship before being external. According to Dom Luciano, in fact, it is necessary to have “the ability to recognize one’s mistakes and to redo one’s path, to maintain the freedom of the heart and the clarity of conscience acquired every day through self-mastery”. For the Brazilian bishop, «the peacemaker is on a continuous journey to live first of all peace with himself, his past, his way of being; with nature; with the others; with the “different” by learning to discover their qualities; with those who offend”. The craftsmanship of peace calls into question not only one’s ideas, but the totality of one’s being and relationships and, even before indicating to others which path to take, «one educates oneself to share life with those “different” from oneself , so that the future may be lived by a pluralistic humanity which knows how to recognize the beauty of unity and which does not lose the richness of diversity”. Dom Luciano outlines the identikit of the authentic peacemaker as that of “a mystic who grows up in the life of prayer and learns to contemplate the work of God in human hearts and in history, without anticipating definitive judgments, without losing hope, without forgetting or getting tired of doing good”. The message is clear: peace begins with oneself.
Peace: divine gift and human commitment
Recent war scenarios on the world stage pose important questions. If it is true – as Cicero said – that history is the teacher of life, then one can only expect a universal rejection. We are bad students. Faith also comes into play and is tested. In fact, for believers, peace is above all a gift from God and it is no wonder that someone often wonders why this gift is often late in arriving. Are our requests for peace perhaps going unheeded? Dom Luciano helps us to understand that «without God, there is no peace, but without the work of every man, God’s peace does not penetrate our hearts and is not implemented in the world. Peace is a gift from God because it is born of his gratuitous love for us and overcomes all resistance and closure of our hearts”. Anyone who understands this truth and truly believes that “the only solution is in the power of love which overcomes hatred, corrects errors, overcomes barriers and discrimination and lives the divine experience of reconciliation”, will certainly be able to work tirelessly “for the reconstruction of peace after conflicts and perverse acts, and for the rapprochement of peoples, the communion between those who, for centuries, have not accepted each other and have been trying to destroy themselves”. Perhaps, by better combining the vertical dimension of peace with the horizontal one, we too, like Dom Luciano Mendes, will be able to be peacemakers in our own small way.