Monday, First week in Lent - February 27, 2023
The WORD in LENT: Leviticus 19: 1-2, 11-18; Matthew 25: 31-46
Two terms that dominate the Word today are - judgement and neighbour! In Christ-ian terminology, my judgement depends on how I deal with my neighbour. Whether I look at them in terms of assets and liabilities, in view of my profit or loss, from the point of view of gain or burden! When I do that, all my resultant actions and way of life will be so selfish, ungodly and absolutely unChristian!
Peace is a question of integrity - where there is integrity there is true peace; where integrity lacks peace fails, or at the most it exists but is fake! It remains precarious. The more selfish I am the more fragile my internal peace gets. The more selfish a society grows the more challenged its peace is. The more selfish humanity becomes the more frail its peace becomes. The solution is integrity.
Integrity - personal and collective - ensures the absence of gap between what a person or a society is and what they wish to appear as. When a person tries to appear as he or she is within, the person may draw criticism but will certainly work on oneself and become a holistic person. When a society remains what it really is, without making appearances or fabrications about its identity, but ready to be challenged constantly and grow out of these experiences, the society becomes foundational to a holistic humanity.
A person who is good from within, inspite of all the weaknesses and imperfections that may show up now and then, is an integral person and there is peace within him or her. A society that is just and virtuous in its very fabric, inspite of all the untoward and occasional failures, is a true seed of the Reign when it holds on to its integrity. Yes, integrity alone can pave way to peace, be it personally or socially, because peace is integrity.