Agenzia Fides

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - Next to love, peace is perhaps one of the most frequently used and distorted words in our language. In a culture that tries to leave God out of any environment, peace is presented as a human achievement, forgetting that it is a gift of God, the fruit of the redemption accomplished by Christ.
It is true, however, that despite being a gift of God, men must seek peace, must prepare the way for peace. For this reason Holy Father Benedict XVI has set the theme for World Day of Peace 2012, "Educating young people to justice and peace", because he is convinced that young people, with their enthusiasm and their passion for ideals, can offer the world a new hope.
Benedict XVI stressed that appreciation for the positive value of life must be passed on to the young, instilling in them the desire to spend it in the service of good.
One of the most needed reforms in the current situation is that of education. An Anthropology centered on itself, and that forgets the supernatural dimension of man, cannot achieve a complete education. This partial view produces an education that forgets the most essential aspects of human being, from his call to union with God. The Holy Father recalled the grandeur and sense of true education: education is the most fascinating and difficult adventure in life. This process is nourished by an encounter of two freedoms, that of an adult and that of the young. It requires the responsibility of the disciple, who must be willing to be guided to the knowledge of reality, and that of the educator, who must be willing to give all of himself. This is why true witnesses are needed more than ever, and no simple rules or providers of information, witnesses who can see farther than others, because their life embraces a wider area. The witness is the first to live the path he proposes.
An educational environment of primary importance is the family. It must be the first school in which you receive the education for justice and peace. Parents should encourage their children with the example of their lives, because they put their hope in God above all, from which springs the only justice and genuine peace.
Believers in Christ must be true witnesses of Christ's peace, a peace that comes from his glorious wounds. He who lives in Christ becomes a man of peace, a person who brings the peace that abounds everywhere in his heart for God's mercy
Christ came into the world as a small child. He did not come to us to impose the power of his strength. He expressed his glory in the smallness and humility of the weakness of his flesh. He comes as God's warrior, but at the same time is the Prince of Peace. Christ is our peace. The mission is the proclamation of Christ, of his person, his saving work. Presenting Him, means to offer the world the most sublime gift, the gift of peace. (Agenzia Fides 29/12/2011)