"Let us pray for an end to war..."
When I heard those words from the priest's lips on Sunday, as an American, my natural reaction was to think of armed conflicts in Afghanistan, the Middle East, and other locations where men are killing each other.
Yet true world peace goes far beyond that. And in a way, it empowers us to be part of the cause.
What wars, what conflict, what struggles do we fight today?
Will we ambushed by the temptation to wrong another? To mock him, slander him, steal credit or possessions from him, hide something important from him?
Will we battle ourselves? Surrender to the sensations of exhaustion, anger, impatience, gluttony? And thereby to destroy our body slowly by stress, inactivity, calories?
Soldiers have a heightened awareness of their situation, which drives their success. And though our lives are endangered on an infinitely smaller scale, we strengthen ourselves nonetheless against the relentless pursuits of natural enemies by being mindful of ourselves and building our reserves of love, humility, patience and persistence. A little prayer wouldn't hurt either.
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