Second Reading
From the pastoral
constitution on the Church in the modern world
of the Second Vatican Council
Re-education for Peace
Men must not be content simply to support the efforts of
others in the work for peace; they must also scrutinize their own attitudes.
Statesmen, responsible as they are for the common good of their own nation and
at the same time for the well-being of the whole world, are very much dependent
on the opinions and convictions of the general public. Their efforts to secure
peace are of no avail as long as men are divided or set against each other by
feelings of hostility, contempt and distrust, by racial hatred or by inflexible
ideologies. There is then a very great and urgent need to reeducate men and to
provide fresh inspiration in the field of public opinion.
Those engaged in education, especially among young
people, and those who influence public opinion, should consider it a very
serious responsibility to work for the reeducation of mankind to a new attitude
toward peace. We must all undergo a change of heart. We must look out on the
whole world and see the tasks that we can all do together to promote the
well-being of the family of man. We must not be misled by a false sense of
hope. Unless antagonism and hatred are abandoned, unless binding and honest
agreements are concluded, safeguarding universal peace in the future, mankind,
already in grave peril, may well face in spite of its marvelous advance in
knowledge that day of disaster when it knows no other peace than the awful
peace of death.
In saying this, however, the Church of Christ, living as
it does in the midst of these anxious times, continues unwaveringly in hope.
Time and again, in season and out of season, it seeks to proclaim to our age
the message of the Apostle: Now is the hour of God’s favor, the hour for change
of heart; now is the day of salvation.
To build peace, the causes of human discord which feed
the fires of war must first be eliminated, and among these especially the
violations of justice. Many of these causes are due to gross economic
inequality and delay in providing necessary remedies. Others arise from a
spirit of domination and from a contempt for others, and, among more
fundamental causes, from human envy, distrust, pride and other forms of
selfishness. Since man cannot bear so many violations of due order, the result
is that, even where war does not rage, the world is constantly plagued by human
conflict and acts of violence.
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