We are not called to pray for Peace, we are called to bring it about.

There are so many prayers being offered today for peace in the world. In the Catholic Church we have many prayers including the Rosary but perhaps we should look a little more closely at the teachings of Jesus. Jesus spent three years teaching his disciples before dying on the Cross and then sending the Holy Spirit upon his followers. It seems an awful lot of hard work so that we could all be loving and forgiving and kind to one another. "Go therefore to all nations baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit AND TEACHING THEM TO OBSERVE ALL I HAVE COMMANDED YOU. Well that is fair enough, so what has he commanded. Is it just to be loving and forgivig and being nice to one another. If we examine the gospels we find there is much more but somehow it is not the kind of subjects we talk about today. He talked about marriage, he talked about God meaning marriages to last and spoke fiercely about divorce. Even his disciples were upset at the time and felt that perhaps if it is to be so strict then perhaps it is better not to marry. Yet among too many Christians today he is not taken seriously on this. They do not object what Christ said they just ignore him. But with marriage goes a family, and with a family there is love between mother and father and their children. The family is indeed the school of love instituted not by Christ but by God the Father himself as Christ points out in Matthew 19. Unless family love is strong in society then society will be so weak. I have spent many times talking about children growing up without fathers and even mothers and what it is doing to the children that there are times I just despair at the lack of interest. A successful society where people find fulfilment is built on families and when families are destroyed as they are today, when young people are committing suicide, when young people try to find happiness in drugs, when everyone justifies their right to do evil acts such as abortion and euthanasia, the love has grown cold and the family is no longer the there in sufficient numbers to be the building block on which society depends. We can cry out on Sunday "Thy Kingdom Come" but we are merely honouring God with our lips and your heart are far from him. WE are called by God to build the better world. So what are we doing about it. Are we ensuring that young people are prepared for marriage by good teaching on sex and marriage and what God asks of them, or do we just construct our own values and ignore Christ in order to bring Christs Teaching 'in step with the values of a pagan Society. If you are not defending life, if you are not really interested n what is happening to our young, if you refuse to stand up and say "This is wrong" Then do not pray for Peace, Christ has given you the means and you are ignoring Him.

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