Notes in CFE 5A – CICM Mission in Action: JPIC, IPs and IRD

Chapter 1
JUSTICE, PEACE AND INTEGRITY OF CREATION

Since the post-Vatican II years, the acronym JPIC has gained an added meaning. It
highlights the need for action towards structural changes that affirm human dignity,
personal responsibility and universal solidarity. To animate the group in the direction of
such action - at the personal level as well as a community - is a key challenge. Take for
example the urgency to promote a change in lifestyle, advocacy and networking to
safeguard the Integrity of Creation.
The vocation to proclaim the Kingdom in the “people’s own God-given context”
impels a CICM missionary to confront the environment of blatant inequality that people
plough through in their daily routine. Uneven opportunities to services, self-
development, and employment are often woven in the fabric of societal relations.
Respect for fellow humans and equal rights are sorely lacking in the world today.
The mission of the CICM missionaries towards Justice, Peace and Integrity of
Creation targets its concern to the needs and issues of a community like peace making
among societies (Human Rights and Non-Violent Conflict Resolutions) and respect for
all created things (Ecological Issues) and people (prisoners and less fortunate people) in
society as they bring life to the Gospel and the Gospel to life. Like Fr. John Couvreur who
campaigned against illegal logging in Isabela, a CICM missionary does not only
evangelize the word of God but also puts these teachings of the Church through action
by responding to the call of just and peaceful world and respect for the environment.
Long before Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation were formally introduced,
applying Christian social teaching was already a constitutive element of each
missionary’s proclamation of the Kingdom. A heart in search for the lost and the
marginalized treads the less trodden path when organized groups, communities or
parish structures tend to gravitate toward power, honor and wealth.
It is very true among early CICM missionaries that even though they had no
formal education on JPIC, their actions and active responses to the needs of the
community were already visible in their ministry.

Lesson 1
JUSTICE AND PEACE

CONTEXT

JUSTICE AND PEACE EDUCATION

JUSTICE AND PEACE EDUCATION is education that cultivates awareness,
concerns and behaviors that lead to peaceful and just conditions/structures and
relationships.
JUSTICE AND PEACE EDUCATION is also called transformative education
because it seeks changes – in people’s mindsets, attitudes, values, and behaviors that, in
the first place, have either created or exacerbated violent conflicts.

GOALS OF JUSTICE AND PEACE EDUCATION

Build Awareness
1. Situations/forms of violence
2. Roots of conflict and violence
3. Alternatives to violence
Build Concern
1. Empathy and compassion
2. Positive vision of the future
3. Social responsibility (Use ideals and lives of peace and justice advocates.)

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Notes in CFE 5A – CICM Mission in Action: JPIC, IPs and IRD
Encourage Action
1. Personal change – own mindset, attitudes, behavior, lifestyle
2. Social action and advocacy

CORE MESSAGES OF JUSTICE AND PEACE EDUCATION

Justice and Peace Education is very comprehensive in its content. It has many
important core messages but a group of peace educators have identified what it considers
as the most important ones.
Two Core Messages
1. Challenge prejudice and discrimination because it hurts.
2. Conflict is a part of life but there are creative and nonviolent ways of solving
conflicts.

Personal Reflection
Recall your own experiences and think of moments when you felt peaceful. What
are the ideas, conditions and situations that you associate with peace?

DEFINING PEACE AND VIOLENCE

NEGATIVE PEACE refers to the absence of direct or physical violence.
POSITIVE PEACE refers to the presence of conditions of well-being and just
relationships in the various spheres of life.
VIOLENCE is viewed as the “avoidable, humanly inflicted harm to persons,
societies and the natural environment.” (B. Reardon, 1999)
The ideas of negative peace and positive peace correspond to certain forms of
violence.

LEVELS OF PEACE
Our understanding of peace should also include the various levels of relationships,
beginning with personal peace and expanding to wider circles.
Personal/inner peace is so important because we cannot give what we do not
have. The transformation that we seek should not only be the transformation of our
society, but also inner transformation as they are inseparable parts of a whole. Inner peace
suggests that we respond to negative situations in positive ways, that we apply the
practice of mindfulness (thinking of the possible consequences before we speak and act).
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Notes in CFE 5A – CICM Mission in Action: JPIC, IPs and IRD
Forgiveness, rather than obsessing about our hurts, frees our hearts and halts the inflow
of negative energies (Jing Lin). Cultivating inner peace is strengthening our inner
resources of hope, love and compassion, which we will use in building outer peace.

CULTURE OF PEACE
UNESCO has proclaimed a “Declaration on a Culture of Peace”. In brief, the
declaration states essentially that a culture of peace is a set of beliefs, values, attitudes,
and modes of life that is based on respect for life, human dignity and fundamental
freedoms; peaceful settlement of conflicts, and adherence to principles of democracy,
tolerance, cooperation, cultural diversity, etc.

Personal Reflection
Violence is harm that is inflicted by humans, at various levels: personal,
interpersonal, group/social and global. It is different from harms that are brought about
by natural causes such as a volcanic eruption or an earthquake.
Reflect on your own experiences of violence which affect you deeply. It may be a
form of violence:
- you have experienced personally, or
- you have observed/witnessed yourself, or
- you have read about/know about through the media, etc.

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Reflect on the following question: If Jesus were alive today… what would he say
or do about the following:
- Retaliation/revenge for harm done to us?
- Eliminating people who are perceived as problems or “scums” of society?
- Going to war to “resolve” disputes?

INSPIRED WORD OF GOD: The Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12)

1 When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat

down, his disciples came to him.

2 Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:
3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5 "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
6 "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will

be filled.
7 "Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
8 "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
9 "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
10 "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs

is the kingdom of heaven.

11 "Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all

kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same

way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

The constitution or the basic law of the kingdom of God in this world is the Sermon
on the Mount. This reaches its climax in the Beatitudes which call the poor “blessed”
because “the kingdom of God is theirs”.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they shall be satisfied.
Those who hunger and thirst are those who long and work for the triumph of
goodness.
Blessed are those who work for peace, for they shall be called children of God.
The peacemakers are those who take the spirit of reconciliation with them
wherever they go.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for the cause of justice, for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven.
The peacemakers are those who take the spirit of reconciliation with them
wherever they go.

CHURCH TEACHING
Our Catholic faith is replete with teachings of peace and justice. We are told at
Isaiah 32:17 that the pathway to peace is justice. Our Catholic faith also teaches us that
the resources of the Earth are not meant for a few but are meant for all (Psalm 24:1,
Leviticus 25). We are taught that “God has love for the economically poor and would like
their hunger to be filled.” (Luke 1:46-53, 6:20-25)
Rejection of violence, non-killing and non-harming are strong in the Catholic
tradition. In Isaiah 2:4, we are taught against war, of peaceful settlement of disputes, and
of converting our weapons into food-gathering implements. Sirach 10:6 exhorts us to do
no violence to our neighbor no matter the wrong, and not to walk the path of arrogance.
Ezekiel 45:9 states that “Thus says the Lord GOD: Enough, O princes of Israel! Put away
violence and oppression, and do what is just and right. Cease your evictions of my
people, says the Lord GOD.”
Jesus is the founder of Christianity but many so-called Christians do not live by
his teachings. Hence, there is a need to rediscover and to recommit to His non-violence.
The message of non-violence is central to Jesus’ life and teaching. Love and
reconciliation rather than retaliation are at the heart of Christian teachings. Jesus
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Notes in CFE 5A – CICM Mission in Action: JPIC, IPs and IRD
instructed us to “love one another” (John 13:34). Non-violence is a consequence of the
universal love that he taught us.
The “hard sayings” of Jesus like, “Turn the other cheek” (Matthew 5:38-41) when
a person strikes us on one cheek – illuminates Jesus’ “third way” of non-violence as an
active and transformative alternative to either violence or passivity. Jesus pointed out
another way: Build an inclusive community, including so-called enemies, by using the
power of non-violent, loving, willing-to-risk-suffering action. (Later, it will be called the Way
of the Cross.)
According to Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, loving your enemies… does not consist
in surrendering to evil – a false interpretation of “turn the other cheek” but in responding
to evil with good (Romans 12:17-21), and thus, breaking the chain of injustice. (Do not
repay evil with evil… God will recompense…) Non-violence is not mere tactical behavior,
but a way of being, of one who is not afraid to confront evil with the weapons of love and
truth.
He strongly invites all sides to renounce violence, even if they feel they are right.
The only path is to renounce violence, to begin anew with dialogue, with the attempt to
find peace together, with a new concern for one another… This is Jesus’ true message:
seek peace with the means of peace.
Jesus’ non-violence is dramatized in His life. He was courageous and creative in
the face of violence.
Consider how he dealt with a mob of men who were ready to stone to death a
woman they accused of adultery. He did not use superior force to overcome their
violence. He probably faced them with a calm, benign face, not with a condemnatory and
angry one, which could have inflamed the situation. He simply said: “The one among
you without sin, cast the first stone.” (John 8:4-11).
During His arrest, the Gospels describe one of his disciples taking a sword and
cutting off the ear of a servant of the high priest. Jesus says: “Enough of this!” (Luke 22:51)
and heals the servant’s ear. In Matthew, Jesus says: “Put your sword back, for all who
draw the sword will die by the sword.” (Matthew 26:52).
His last words expressed love and forgiveness: “Father, forgive them; they do not
know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:24).
Note how Jesus responded to the political and economic situation of His time. He
denounced oppression from Rome-appointed rulers and the Pharisees. (e.g. not to pay
tithes meant one was outside the circle of purity, the disabled were considered unholy).
Jesus could not accept exclusion and hatred in the name of religion. He undercuts the age
old tendency of humans to label those who are outside of a privileged circle as threats, as
enemies, as evil – to dehumanize them and then make them objects of “righteous
violence” (e.g. the Good Samaritan)
Indeed, Christians are called to be people of peace, “Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called the children of God” (Matthew 5:9) and to do for others what we
want others to do for us (Matthew 7:12).

MISSIONARY RESPONSE
Pope Francis said, in his World Day of Peace 2017 message, that Jesus walked the
path of non-violence to the very end, to the cross… The path to non-violence will not be
easy, but is a road that needs to be taken as the ethical and practical option for humanity.
Ponder/reflect on the prior activities, discussion and inputs. Did the lesson spark
any new realization on your part? What are you being called to do? Think of at least one
CONCRETE, DOABLE, PRACTICAL and REALISTIC action.

Prepared by:
MICHAEL ANGELO F. EMPIZO
Saint Louis College, City of San Fernando, La Union
Feast of Saint Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist
September 21, 2020
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