January 1: World Day of Peace

Dec 27

Do you remember the song, “What the World Needs Now Is Love”? Burt Bacharach wrote the music, and the lyrics are by Hal David. It debuted in 1965 and was made popular by Jackie DeShannon. It reminded us, "It’s [love] the only thing that there’s just too little of… no, not just for some but for everyone.” Sixty years later, the message still holds true.

In 1967, Pope Paul VI established January 1, the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, as the annual celebration for the Catholic Church to celebrate the World Day of Peace. This message also still needs to be heard.

Pope Francis’ message for this year’s World Day of Peace invites everyone to reflect on how to build a lasting peace. The subtitle of his letter is “Forgive us our trespasses; grant us your peace.” He calls on us to use this Jubilee Year 2025 to “seek to establish the liberating justice of God in our world,” so we might all come to know the peace only God can give. Pope Francis wrote that “we would do well simply to stop for a moment, at the beginning of this year, to think of the mercy with which he constantly forgives our sins and forgives our every debt, so that our hearts may overflow with hope and peace.”

The Pope offers three proposals to “restore dignity to the lives of people” and allow us to “set out anew on the journey of hope.” His first proposal echoes Saint John Paul II's call, on the occasion of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, to consider “reducing substantially, if not canceling outright, the international debt which seriously threatens the future of many nations.”

He asks for a “firm commitment to respect the dignity of human life from conception to natural death, so that each person can cherish his or her own life and all may look with hope to a future of prosperity and happiness for themselves and their children.”

His third proposal, following Saint Paul VI and Pope Benedict XVI, “for the sake of future generations” and “in this time marked by wars,” to “use a fixed percentage of the money earmarked for armaments to establish a global fund to eradicate hunger and facilitate in the poorer countries educational activities aimed at promoting sustainable development and combating climate change.”

The sentiment of Hal David’s lyrics is beautiful. The world does need love for everyone but we know life is complicated, and so is love. With the cross of Christ always before us, we know that real love does not always look like what the world teaches us about love. Love can be very difficult, and it will often challenge us so we can rise to the level of love that Jesus teaches us.

On behalf of the parish staff, may you and your family have a blessed and peace-filled New Year. May the Jubilee Year 2025 bring us all hope, and may we all work for peace in our hearts and in our world.

Peace and All Good!

Perhaps over the holiday season, you might like to read and reflect on Pope Francis’ letter marking this year’s World Day of Peace. Click HERE to see the full letter.