“I ask that supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings be offered for everyone, for kings and for all in authority, that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all devotion and dignity.” How should we pray for the common good of our society?
            “If you want peace, work for justice.” This was the simple but profound declaration of Pope Paul VI in his message for the Celebration of the Day of Peace in 1972. We are blessed to have a rich Catholic social teaching that gives us a clear understanding of what justice is. In our tradition, justice begins with the recognition that there is one God who created every person in God’s own image and likeness. Every person, therefore, has an inherent dignity that no individual, no government, no social or economic system may compromise or deny. Justice, therefore, requires that we honor, respect and protect the dignity of all human beings. To respect, honor and protect the dignity of all human beings requires that we work to eliminate all those things that threaten the dignity of human persons. This means that we work to end abortion on demand, which is a fundamental assault on the dignity of the unborn child. This means that we work to end capital punishment, as the gift of life comes from God and, therefore, only God should determine when a life will end. This means that we work to ensure that all persons have access to what is necessary to live in dignity -affordable housing that is in good condition, access to health care, sufficient food, employment, just salaries, secure communities, opportunity for rest, and opportunity for a secure retirement. When the prerequisites of justice are absent in a society, there can be no peace as persons struggle to secure what should be theirs by right.
            As we are all brothers and sisters in the one God who created each of us equal in dignity, we cannot live tranquil and peaceful lives if we know that there is even one brother or sister whose dignity is at risk or whose dignity has been violated. We pray, therefore, that all of our civic leaders will work for that authentic justice which will yield true and lasting peace.
 
 
                            Fr. Mark Hallinan, S.J.