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The family, the school of freedom and peace


The Holy Family with a Bird, 1650, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo

If religious freedom is the path to peace, religious education is the highway which leads new generations to see others as their brothers and sisters, with whom they are called to journey and work together so that all will feel that they are living members of the one human family, from which no one is to be excluded.

The family founded on marriage, as the expression of the close union and complementarity between a man and a woman, finds its place here as the first school for the social, cultural, moral and spiritual formation and growth of children, who should always be able to see in their father and mother the first witnesses of a life directed to the pursuit of truth and the love of God. Parents must be always free to transmit to their children, responsibly and without constraints, their heritage of faith, values and culture. The family, the first cell of human society, remains the primary training ground for harmonious relations at every level of coexistence, human, national and international. Wisdom suggests that this is the road to building a strong and fraternal social fabric, in which young people can be prepared to assume their proper responsibilities in life, in a free society, and in a spirit of understanding and peace.

Religious Freedom, The Path to Peace, Message of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI for the Celebration of the World Day of Peace, 1 January 2011. The full text of Pope Benedict’s message is here.


 

The time of business does not with me differ from the time of prayer; and in the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I possess God in as great tranquility as if I were upon my knees at the Blessed Sacrament.

Brother Lawrence, Carmelite Lay Brother (1611-1691)





The way of peace is really a seamless garment that must cover the whole of life and must be applied in all its relationships.

A.J. Muste, Peacemaker (1885-1967)


Chekhov aged 29

 


We shall find peace. We shall hear angels, we shall see the sky sparkling with diamonds.

Anton Chekhov (1860–1904)




Learning is finding out what you already know. Doing is demonstrating that you know it. Teaching is reminding others that they know just as well as you. We are all learners, doers, teachers.

Richard Bach (Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah)




 Lead, Kindly Light

Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom,
Lead Thou me on!
The night is dark, and I am far from home—
Lead Thou me on!
Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene—one step enough for me.

I was not ever thus, nor prayed that Thou
Shouldst lead me on.
I loved to choose and see my path; but now,
Lead Thou me on!
I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,
Pride ruled my will: remember not past years.

So long Thy power hath blessed me, sure it still
Will lead me on,
O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till
The night is gone;
And with the morn those angel faces smile
Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile.

Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman (1801–1890)


*Watch the video of Welsh singer Aled Jones singing Lead, Kindly Light here. You may also like the version of the Wells Cathedral Choir.