All our options for justice are within the context of peace making, working with all peoples who are promoting a non violent approach to life. We believe deeply that their can be no peace without justice.

WALKING TOWARDS PATHS OF PEACE

1.  The Thirst for a True Peace in our Wounded World

    The thirst for a True Peace in our wounded world is as important as the desire for interior peace which we bear within ourselves. When we set out along the paths of Peace we hear the call: ‘Take off your shoes, for the place on which you stand is holy ground.’ (Ex 3:5) It is true, we are entering into the sacred land of the suffering of people.

    One of the signs of our times is the movement rising from the depths of humanity to say ‘Enough!’ to the suffering that is reaching an intolerable level. Nothing marks human experience more deeply than suffering: our own, that of others and the suffering we cause one another. Suffering traces deep furrows in the history of peoples. Civilisations, conquests, discoveries and inventions are the history of the suffering of millions of persons who were wounded, humiliated, tortured, left to die! We think of the women, the children, the workers, the emigrants, the refugees… Official history ignores this reality – for it, human suffering has no historical significance. We question the nature of progress. Progress, at what price?

    It is a fact: the power structures are constantly being renewed. Billions of persons are excluded. There is no room for them. They are neither producers nor consumers. Globalisation is a new form of colonisation or imperialism based on the principal that only what is profitable has any value. This justifies all means. Money has always controlled the world. Today, the great power oppressing the world is armaments. The world cannot be dominated by money unless there are the arms to protect that money. This continual renewal of the power structures is so strong that it makes us think that we can’t do without imperialism and that it is going to last forever!

New voices are being raised to recover the meaning of history

    The significance of suffering in the history of peoples is today being recovered by those who themselves suffer. The growing number of national, international and world meetings by groups who bring the voice of women, indigenous peoples, workers, country people, migrants, landless people, the unemployed and undocumented people comes to shake us up. A new force is rising independent of institutional bodies. It is bringing people together so that they may forcibly proclaim their suffering and create alternatives. The action of humanitarian groups, NGOs, the Churches and the UN is still irreplaceable for the protection of human, civil and social rights and the upholding of international agreements. But, there is no doubt that the biggest impact is that coming from the mobilisation of those who are suffering. It is a sign of the times, the bearer of Good News that demands our attention.

The alternatives spring up from below

    History proves that very often imperialisms collapse because of their internal contradictions. Today, the movement rising from within peoples speaks to us of alternatives and of another power that is developing quickly and effectively: it is the power of Peace, of Compassion and of Justice.
 The war in Iraq has given rise to the biggest and most powerful anti-war movement the history of the world has known. The movement for Peace has become universal, a powerful pressure group.

    With this movement, the globalisation of Compassion among people who are suffering has been consolidated. Those who are suffering not longer feel only the suffering of the members of their group; they are sensitive to the suffering of the other groups and join with them. This becomes a great pressure group. And even more, the number of people who feel compassion for those who suffer is increasing and these persons act so as to have an effect on the overall causes. It is enough to think of the response of civil society to the movements for the victims of the AIDS pandemic and for the eradication of extreme poverty, to the campaign against hunger, the right to food sovereignty, the control of the Economic Partnership Agreements, the concern for creation, and so many other cases. It is the globalisation of solidarity for Justice. All the movements come together under the same ‘motto’ and we see them committed to hold back the economic, political, military, social and religious globalisation of imperialism.

    Albert Nolan says: ‘It is impossible to foresee how and when imperialism will come to an end. Perhaps the international resistance movement in the name of Peace, Compassion and Justice will be able to undermine and dismantle the structures of power and domination in a not-too-distant future.’ (from Jesus Today, A Spirituality of Radical Freedom)

    A suggestive image of the present moment, suggested by Fr Pierre Cibammo, Congolese, of Caritas Internationalis, is that of a bubbling pot. This image reminds us that the movement of heating begins from below and rises up until the whole contents begin to boil.     

2.  Among the Signs of the Times: the Culture of Peace

   While alternatives are springing up from below modern science itself is giving rise to a new conception of Life and of a new awareness of Peace. Several physicists are turning towards the human sciences, religion and the traditions of humanity. This meeting between modern science, the transpersonal studies and the spiritual traditions constitute what is called the holistic vision, from the Greek kata holikos, that is, all that refers to the totality, the universal.
 This holistic vision helps us to become aware of certain things.

The fragmentary vision of reality is an obstacle to Peace:

   Every action is followed by a reaction. However, it is interesting to observe that in our ordinary life we easily separate the subject and the object as well as the cause and the effect. Here are some examples: we behave as if we had official permission to pillage the resources of nature without reaction from the planet. In interpersonal relations our behaviour is similar: we are aggressive and we complain when somebody wounds us. We act as though our actions had no consequences, as if our victims could never react. This fragmentary vision of reality leads us towards a culture of irresponsibility.

Peace is an phenomenon that is within the human person:

   We often find ourselves saying that peoples are living in peace when there is no war. Where there is no hatred there is no war, and likewise if there is no armed conflict, if there are no arms. But, if people’s interior life is not nurtured, it is enough to give them arms and conflict will break out. Hatred is within the person, whereas the arms are an exterior signal. When we consider Peace as the absence of war, we no longer cultivate it in our consciousness. We find it is enough to promote disarmament campaigns etc. Peace becomes a phenomenon that is outside us; it is cultural, social, legal, political or economic in nature. Disarmament is important, but it is only one aspect of the problem. Peace is within us or else war begins within and by us.

Peace is a state of harmony and fraternity among persons and nations

   The dream of putting an end to war is possible if there is direct and constructive work done on groups and society. The re-education of society is one of the priorities of UNESCO. Schools, newspapers, television, the cinema, the theatre, information technology and all the means of communication are invited to participate in the programme of the re-education of society. The absence of violence and of war or the state of harmony and fraternity concern relations between persons. It is what is known as social ecology. The UNESCO Declaration of Human Responsibility for Peace and Sustainable Development (Costa Rica 1989) considered that the problems of the environment are united to the problems of global security and of peace.

 Peace is born in the mind of human beings

    The foreword to the constitutive act of UNESCO states: ‘Wars are born in the mind of human beings and it is in their mind, above all, that the defences of peace must be built.’ This theory could receive the name of interior or personal ecology.
The theory shows two variants:

• Peace results from the absence, or the solution, of inter-psychological conflicts. This is a thesis of a psychotherapeutic nature according to which peace becomes possible by re-establishing the balance between the heart and reason, between the instinct and the heart.
• Peace is a state of interior harmony, the result of a non-fragmentary vision of knowledge. This is a thesis of a spiritual nature, attached to the great traditions of humanity and recent studies in transpersonal psychology. It is characterised by reference to altruistic and disinterested love.

    A fragmentary vision of peace puts us in contact with different theses which are the result of specialisations and sub-divisions of knowledge. All of them have some truth. None of them covers the whole problem. That is why war is a tragedy apparently without solution in our lives. One of the aims of interior harmony is the integration of science with the spiritual tradition.

The holistic vision of peace

• A non-fragmentary theory of the universe according to which matter, life and knowledge are different manifestations of the same energy.
• A perspective that takes the human person, society and nature into consideration or, interior, social or planetary ecology. The three aspects are linked and constantly interact.
   Peace is interior happiness, social harmony and a balanced relation with the environment, all at once. There will be no true peace at a personal level while we know that extreme poverty and violence are dominant at the social level or that nature is threatening us because we are destroying it.
    The holistic vision or awareness broadens human horizons. The egocentric characteristics decrease when the people open up to the society where they live. Gradually, they discover that their life and that of others depend on a sensitive ecological balance. Their social awareness becomes planetary and then cosmic.   The management of peace is the effort to integrate the different domains of knowledge that humanity has developed over time. Living in peace is an art.

3.  The culture of peace, a challenge that requires an appropriate learning method.

A holistic vision of education

   There is a difference between teaching and education.
Teaching is aimed at the intellectual and sensorial faculties. It is a mental transmission that increases knowledge and forms opinions. This task has been traditionally confided to schools. There are other places of learning parallel to the school – notably the family – which deal with the character, that is, feelings and emotions, behaviour and interior attitudes. Sometimes there is a difference between the rational thought, opinions and attitudes inculcated by the school on the one hand and the habits and behaviour inculcated by the family on the other.
   Here are some results from an opinion poll on racist behaviour. The majority of the white persons declared they were anti-racist. Doubtless that corresponded with what they had learned at school. But, to the question whether they would agree to the marriage of their children with a black person, the majority replied ‘no’. This corresponds to what is transmitted by the family at the level of habits and customs.
Other examples could be quoted: we have democratic opinions and autocratic ways of behaving; we defend nature and walk on the floor-beds; we declare ourselves to be pacifists and beat children; we say we are tolerant and speak ill of others.

  Teaching emphasises the programme, the acquisition of a body of knowledge. It aims at developing reason and preparing the person with regard to the external world: aggressive competition, success, the acquisition and the power of a fortune. It is, without doubt, specific to the industrial civilisation.

   Since the beginning of the last century we have seen the evolution of educational methods. The concept of pupil – the one who is taught – is replaced by that of student – the one who participates actively in the process, who assumes and directs his own transformation.

   Holistic education aims at developing both reason and intuition, sensitivity and feelings. It seeks the harmony of the psychological functions. Each situation of existence is an opportunity for learning. It aims at the growth of the person with regard to the external and internal world. It puts the emphasis on deliberate simplicity, on co-operation, on human values, on training through general notions that precede specialisation. In the holistic perspective, development, evolution, is ongoing whatever the person’s age.

  Holistic education for Peace
   It is a process that is inspired by active methods and is addressed to the person as a whole to maintain or restore harmony between reason, feelings and intuition. One of the aims is to acquire the capacity to manage conflicts through active non-violence.
   In the relation human beings have with nature, holistic education seeks to repair the ecological devastation caused by human beings.
 In short, it is a matter of transmitting and developing the art of living in peace, at three levels:

• The human being: the education is directed towards interior ecology or the art of living in peace with oneself. In a simultaneous or progressive manner, the body, the heart and the spirit find their state of balance.
• Society: the education is directed towards social ecology or the art of living in peace with other persons. Basically this touches the domains of the economy and social, political and cultural life.
• Nature: the education is directed towards planetary ecology or the art of living in peace with nature. The aim is peace with the environment.
That is why holistic education is a learning process where a self-teaching approach has a large place, as Abraham Moles tells us:
   ‘Education is once again integrated into daily life. It recovers some of the characteristics of direct learning which the old-time village – where there was neither school nor teacher – gave to its young people.’

4.  Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation are at the heart of the
                                                       charism
    They inspire our desire to give an evangelical response in communion with those who, like us, nourish the dream of a society where it is possible to weave human relations of peace and justice.

   This requires courageous responses in a time of difficult choices.
 ‘…they took flasks of oil with their lamps’ (Mt 25:4)
    Like the wise virgins of the Gospel we are called to be vigilant and to have the oil that keeps our lamp burning. This speaks to us about our paths of conversion to all that nourishes the desire for peace in us and in the world, knowing that we carry it in earthen vessels. Those who keep watch have good judgement about what the passing time is ripening all around them, even during the night. They are capable of looking at the wounds and dreams of humanity with the eyes of faith and of hope.   
 
   For us, we must read the signs that emerge from reality and follow courageously the paths of the daring, the creativity and the spirituality of Etienne Pernet and Antoinette Fage. With regard to this, the reminder from the 2005 General Chapter is significant: ‘ “Take society at its root, the family.” This call has accompanied us all through our history. Today we are called to research it anew.’ (2005 Gen. Ch.) In our journey with the families, in the different places and by the different ways that we contact them, we are in solidarity with the movement of those who thirst for justice and peace, and who are at the root of society.
 ‘You must refashion a people for God.’ ‘In the search for solidarity between peoples, which is a Gospel call, we have our part to play, to be an alternative way and voice, to globalisation.’ (2005 Gen. Ch.)
‘The love of Christ urges us’ to go beyond submission to the values and behaviour of a violent society. It is an invitation to live, with lucidity and voluntary simplicity, the giving up of some consumer habits, the acceptance of differences, respect for nature which is the environment for humanity and has its own value, and to avoid the other aspects of our daily life that slow down the process of solidarity in favour of the culture of peace.

Being at the service of the mission

     At the 2005 General Chapter we, as a Congregation, strengthened the orientation of justice, peace and the integrity of creation and the priorities that arose from our mission in favour of better conditions of life for the poorest: Campaign against Hunger, Migration, Sustainable Development, Concern for Nature.
    We know that hunger and migration go together and are the result of unjust development policies at the international level. In the neighbourhoods where we live and in the places where we act we are immersed in the consequences of the growing mobility of peoples, in the reality of the cultural and religious pluralism of the immigrants, of those dispossessed of land, those who are displaced, the refugees, those without papers. We are living a double challenge: their integration into a community that welcomes them, and action on the global causes and in favour of the stability of people, notably through sustainable development in their countries of origin.
     The destruction of nature and its consequences on the environment and on persons, especially the poorest, are linked to the questions of justice which show up the inequalities and oppression of a senseless economic system and unlimited consumerism. The cry of the land is also the cry of the poor. The present debate on ecology goes beyond the environmental movements of the 70s and 80s. It is now part of the research for the survival and dignity of the peoples of the south of the world and for a different model for society and the economy.
Our priorities show also that the research and the actions of our sisters and communities have a meaning beyond the micro-reality of our neighbourhoods. They are inter-related with the macro-reality of the suffering of all peoples.

The apostolic community is the special place where we live out the challenge of being attentive to life so that there may be more justice and peace:

• Highlight the simplest realities, the little actions, the humble beginnings, be close to persons through simple contacts, confess the One who makes us live, Jesus who lived as a poor man, proclaimed the Good News with the simplest things.
• Be in solidarity with the networks involved in promoting a culture of peace for a just and equitable society at local and international level – UN at world level and AEFJN (Africa/Europe faith and justice network) at European level.
• Create our own network of solidarity within the Congregation by the sharing of experiences, knowledge and resources between the communities in the same country and between the countries where we have communities.
• Form a network with and among the lay persons who share in our research, action and spirituality.

    Our daily experience is the space where the fabric of new relations of peace and justice is formed; our participation in the different networks is the space where the strands of this fabric can become bigger and stronger.

   Be nourished with spirituality: the prophetic experience at the source of our charism.
1865: This was the time of the industrial revolution in France, with the radical changes that gave rise to deep crises affecting all aspects of human life. Through their sensitivity that led them to receive the calls of their time, Etienne Pernet and Antoinette Fage experienced the love of God who saves in weakness and poverty. This experience was the inspiration for an evangelical response among ‘those who have neither voice nor influence in this world, so that our actions may “speak Jesus Christ”, Good news announced to the poor.’ (RL 9)
    Following the path of the founders we let ourselves be challenged by the changes in society at every period. The certainty that God saves in weakness and in poverty becomes a prophetic word for us in giving new responses. Today, times have changed. The love of God has to be lived out in the midst of other contexts. As was the case before, the Word of God is the source by which we may recognise, with the heart of a disciple, the prophetic signs of the love of God today.
    The love of God who saves in weakness and in poverty is the experience present in the Bible at the turning points in the history of the people of God. It appears again, confirmed in and by Jesus, who presents himself as the Servant of God and of the people to accomplish the promise of the Kingdom of Peace and of Justice.

    All along the way we become aware of the need for ongoing conversion and of spirituality in the face of today’s challenges. More and more we need to be women of the Spirit if we wish to be women of peace. It is the kairos, the favourable time to contemplate Jesus and his own spirituality, his contemplative prayer, his concern for the ordinary, day-to day things, his attitudes with regard to persons, his way of reading the signs of the times.

‘To live the Gospel as Etienne Pernet and Antoinette Fage did, means being inspired by the same intuition, inventing simple, human answers to today’s problems.’ (Theresa Dick, Intro. to the Rule of Life)

Franca Sessa -Coordinator of the SIJPIC -
(at the international session of LSA formators - July 2007)