Editorial

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=200 BGCOLOR="#006633" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="056d6c00ddvuru.jpg"> <div> <IMG SRC="06e8fa80.png" border=0 width="143" height="168" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <B>Millennium Icon of Carmel</B></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.carmelocd.net/store" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.carmelocd.net/store"><U><B><IMG SRC="0903c3c0.jpg" border=0 width="60" height="60" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <div> <B>Click Button for Online Subscriptions</B></div> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#0066FF" FACE="Arial" ><B>Spiritual Life</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#333399" FACE="Arial" >    </FONT> |     <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Spiritual Life"><U>home</U></A></div> <div> Editorial</div> <div> <B>Editorial for Spring 2012 -- By Edward O'Donnell, OCD, Editor</B></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="1" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="832" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 1305 WIDTH="822"><div> <B><IMG SRC="0bff14f0.jpg" border=0 width="241" height="79" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <bR> <div> IN OUR SEARCH FOR INNER AND OUTER PEACE, many countries and individuals go to great lengths to avoid conflict and live peaceful lives. A newly created organization in Washington, DC-United States Institute of Peace-seeks to minimize and resolve conflicts in the various warring countries of the world. </div> <bR> <div> Also, individuals are trained in conflict resolution to head off disasters in corporations and in personal lives. Do these interventions work? Obviously they do in some cases, but the evening news casts doubt on their efficacy as the newscasters parade before us images of wars and conflicts from all over the world, including the violence in our cities.</div> <bR> <div> The cynic would say any effort aimed at bringing about peace is a sheer waste of time and energy. People have been killing each other for millennia and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future, so why bother. We can agree with the cynic and accept as normal the current absence of peace throughout the world. We can go so far as to lose interest in local and world affairs and retreat into our own safe and manageable lives, where we try to establish a semblance of peace and tranquility. Such a stance seems quite normal in the face of a problem that seems overwhelming.</div> <bR> <div> As Christians, however, we are challenged by Jesus in the Gospel to be instruments of his peace to the world. Caring for our brothers and sisters in need is the foundational value of the Christian life. The dilemma we face is practicing Christian love in the face of global conflict, and at the same time maintaining an inner peace so necessary for living a prayerful life. </div> <bR> <div> We need to be peaceful persons, rooted in the peace that Jesus gives us: "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you" (Jn 14:27). The peace Jesus gives to us is not a temporary cessation of personal or global hostilities, but an inner peace deeply rooted in his love for each of us. </div> <bR> <div> If we are personally united to Christ, we can be ambassadors of his peace to the world-not a tenuous peace easily fractured by jealousy or hatred, but a peace founded on respect and love for each human person.</div> <bR> <div> Now all we have to do is find out how to do this. We all struggle with the search for inner peace-the search for a deep inner relationship with God-and we struggle to find ways to bring peace to our families, communities, and the people around us. Small acts of kindness are like the mustard seeds of peace-small when planted but with great potential for growth. </div> <bR> <div> The poet Gerard Manley Hopkins, in his poem Peace, speaks of a peace that comes to us with work to do:</div> <bR> <div> O surely, reaving Peace, my Lord should leave in lieu </div> <div> Some good! And so he does leave Patience exquisite, </div> <div> That plumes to Peace thereafter. And when Peace here does house</div> <div> He comes with work to do, he does not come tSo coo,</div> <div> He comes to brood and sit.</div> <bR> <bR> <div>                                                                                             —Edward O’Donnell, OCD</div> <div>  </div> <bR> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>