Holy Mass for Peace in the World (10 May 1984)

On Thursday, 10 May 1984, the Holy Father celebrated Holy Mass for Pace in the world. The Mass was celebrated in the Bangkok National Stadium. In his homily the Pope said, “Your cultural heritage as a Thai people is closely linked to the indigenous Buddhist tradition, which prepares fertile ground for the seed of the Word of God, proclaimed by Jesus Christ, to take root and grow.”

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

1. It is our privilege as members of the Church to gather around the table of our Lord Jesus Christ and to partake of his Body and Blood in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. This privilege is also a duty, in view of the Lord’s command to the Apostles on the night before his passion and death: “Do this in memory of me.” In this Eucharistic assembly we find our identity as Catholics , for it is precisely here that our union with Christ — as individuals and as a community —  finds its most sublime expression: we are united with Christ our Redeemer, his perfect act of praise in the total sacrifice of himself to the Father.

There could be no more fitting meeting at the beginning of my visit to your country, dear Catholics of Thailand, than to gather in the name of Christ and celebrate together this memorial of our Redemption . It is important that you gather in this way each Sunday, for through Mass you can always discover anew your source of unity as brothers and sisters in Christ, closely united to one another. You will be a small part of the population of your country and a small flock of Christ’s followers , but Christ, the Good Shepherd, will care for you and protect you with a special love. And when you unite your hearts and minds to Christ in this sacrifice, you are at the same time spiritually united to the whole Church of Christ , the universal assembly of believers, both living and dead, who form the one Body of Christ.

2. As a Church, you are constantly faced with the unique opportunity to reflect on the mysterious nature of Divine Providence, which chooses you to listen to the message of Christ and to bear witness to the love of God made manifest in the person of Jesus our Saviour. What kind of world is it in which God calls you to bear witness to Christ? One aspect of it is that which your Cardinal pointed out to us at the beginning of this Liturgy. You are privileged to live in a Kingdom where citizens enjoy religious freedom , where men and women are free to worship God according to the dictates of an upright conscience. For this situation, which corresponds to a universal right of all peoples, I join you in thanking God.

Furthermore, you live in a world where the majority of your citizens follow Buddhism, that complex of religious beliefs and philosophical ideas rooted in Thai history, culture and psychology, and which profoundly influences your identity as a nation. In a sense, it could be said that, as the people of Thailand, you are the heirs to its ancient and venerable wisdom .

How can you, as Christians, members of the Catholic Church who recognize Christ as the Savior of the world, respond to Christ's call to follow Him as disciples , living — as is your case — immersed in a religious environment different from your own?

Sacred Scripture presents criteria for an answer to this question. The second reading, taken from the Letter of Saint James, speaks of an earthly wisdom that is opposed to “the wisdom that comes from above”, which is pure, peaceful, forgiving, conciliatory, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality or pretense. Your cultural heritage as a Thai people is closely linked to the indigenous Buddhist tradition, which prepares fertile ground for the seed of the Word of God, proclaimed by Jesus Christ, to take root and grow. In the practice of Buddhism one can recognize a noble tendency to strive to separate oneself from “earthly wisdom”, in order to discover and achieve an interior purification and liberation . This goal is achieved through prayer and meditation, together with the practice of the moral virtues. As the Second Vatican Council clearly stated, the Church deeply respects the religious wisdom contained in non-Christian traditions and rejects nothing that is true and holy in these traditions (cf. Nostra Aetate , 2). The fruits of a "peaceful" and "forgiving" wisdom are evident in the Thai character, and are esteemed and respected by those who have the good fortune to meet you and come to know this spiritual quality within you.

4. As the Thai people who have received the sign of the Christian faith, you have come to know this wisdom fully through the person and message of Jesus Christ . His wisdom is explained for you and for all believers in the eight Beatitudes that Christ himself proclaimed in today’s Gospel. These Beatitudes speak of God’s favor toward those who aspire to live under his law.

Accepting this teaching of Jesus as a way of life is a fruit of the Holy Spirit , of that Spirit who “is poured out upon us from on high” ( Is 32:15), who radically transforms the heart and soul of man. The outpouring of the Spirit implies the transformation of all creation, producing a condition in which everyone can experience true joy, that of those who are truly “blessed”. In this sense, we understand that wisdom is not essentially a human achievement: wisdom comes from God and is therefore manifested in an upright life.

The Christian life is lived through faith in the redemptive power of the Cross and Resurrection of Christ; it is the response of those who sincerely desire to follow the path of the Gospel indicated by the Beatitudes. How is this wisdom revealed by Christ manifested in the lives of those who experience the redemptive power of his Cross and Resurrection? Once again it is the reading of Scripture that enlightens us in our meditation. Among the preeminent fruits that come from on high is the gift of peace , the theme of today’s liturgy and for whose intention we offer this Mass. In our first reading, taken from the Prophet Isaiah, we learn that peace will be the effect of justice. But it will only come if the Spirit from on high is poured out upon us.

The whole Church is committed to praying for peace , to supplicating for this gift of God, and she prays in the most effective way possible: by sharing in the perfect sacrifice of Christ, who offered himself as our intercessor before the heavenly Father. In the Eucharist we recognize our Christian responsibility to pray always, especially as a community of faith, so that we may receive from Christ the gift of peace, as the family of God gathered in the presence of the Father.

Our responsibility to pray for peace does not exempt us from the duty to work positively and concretely for peace . I am speaking here of the peace that comes from justice and love for our neighbour, and is linked to the peace of Christ that comes from God. Our commitment to peace means resisting the temptations of violence; it involves constant control of our passions, respect for the dignity of others, compassion, meekness, and all those qualities that flow from a heart made in the image of the heart of Christ, the Prince of Peace.

Here too, as a people enriched by the Buddhist tradition of your country, you are endowed with a special sensitivity to renouncing violence in the demand for personal rights, and thus the Lord's mandate to be peacemakers finds resonance in your minds and hearts, helping you not to be victims of the many tribulations of violence that plague the world.

6. From this perspective we can better understand the meaning of the words of St. James: "The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace" ( James 3:18). How can this happen? It is realized in the Christian when he or she accepts the lifestyle indicated by Christ in the Sermon on the Mount. This program is the new wisdom that comes from above and stands in stark contrast to the wisdom of this world. It is the opposite of materialism and hedonism.

The Beatitude – “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God” – assumes particular relevance in this context. The true peacemaker is not only the one who renounces the use of violence as a normal method of action, but also the one who has the courage to fight the enemies of peace . The peacemaker fights not with physical weapons or against an individual or a nation, but against that selfishness , in all its forms, which prevents us from seeing others as brothers and sisters in the one human family. He fights against indifference or apathy in the face of poverty, pain or suffering, because in the Christian perspective of human life these conditions never justify fatalism, nor are they signs of a curse. On the contrary, they lead us to our Redemption , if we are united to the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, whose innocent suffering remains forever a sign of hope for all humanity.

7. Brothers and sisters in Christ: in every celebration of the Eucharist, Christ renews the gift he made of himself as Mediator and Reconciler, gathering together the scattered children of God in order to bring the gift of peace to the entire human family. At Mass, Christ becomes our peace . And Jesus Christ is our peace, the peace we wish to offer to the world.

Lord, make us instruments of your peace! Lord, give us your peace!

Copyright © Dicastero per la Comunicazione - Libreria Editrice Vaticana