The Bishop of Cúcuta, Mons. José Libardo Garcés Monsalve, invited Colombians to put Jesus in the center of their lives, because that is the basis for the desire to work and build peace.
“When our personal and family life has Jesus Christ in the center, the desire to work and build peace springs from the interior,” said the prelate In the editorial of the diocesan newspaper the truth.
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The Bishop explained that this is achieved “solving the difficulties and conflicts from what Jesus himself teaches us in the Gospel, which is the opposite of all violence and division: ‘They have heard that it was said: love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell them: I love their enemies and pray for those who persecute them. Thus they will be worthy children of their father from the sky, which makes the sun rise, the rain on fair and unfair. “
“This is the task of every Christian and the priority mission of the Church in the joyful announcement of the Gospel of Christ,” he said.
The Bishop of Cúcuta, a border city with Venezuela, recalled that “from baptism we are all missionary disciples of the Lord and this entails the task of working for peace in all the environments where we live.”
In that sense, he explained that “working for peace presupposes that unity reigns in our hearts, that there is no internal division, that the heart is clean, to be able to convey the peace that comes from God as a gift.”
“It is not peace like the one looking for the world, which in many cases is more a business that asks for benefits for those who provide it; but is a wonderful gift that Jesus Christ has won with his blood and wants us to leave us to live in unity and communion. ‘Peace leaves you, my peace gives them. A peace that the world cannot give them’, he said, citing Chapter 14 of the Gospel of John.
In the editorial, Mons. Garcés wrote that, although “we all want peace and make great efforts to get it”, it will not be possible “if we are on your back to God.”
Therefore, he encouraged to live the week for the peace that takes place in Colombia with prayer and reflection. This week, he explained, “it has the purpose that each one continues to strengthen the fervor and pastoral zeal in a work committed to peace, witnessing this beautiful gift that we receive from God and that we have the mission of transmitting to others.”
The 38th week for Peace began on September 1, however, the Episcopate explained that the activities extend throughout September.
It is an initiative that was born within the Church in Colombia and which in recent years have been added dozens of organizations. The objective is to be erected “as a bridge of hope that begins to be built from the territories, in the face of violence and social fragmentation that today generates pain and uncertainty in the country,” The Episcopate indicated.
Eduardo Berdejo
Professional in Social Communication of the National University of San Marcos in Peru, I have more than 20 years of experience in Catholic digital journalism. As part of ACI Press, I have been sent to cover the trips of Pope Francis to Cuba, Mexico, Colombia and Peru, in addition to the Synod of Sinodality in the Vatican in 2023.