1 WORD LIFE All people, of every nation, feel a deep longing for peace, for harmony, for unity. And yet, in spite of all the efforts and good will, after thousands of years of history, we are still not able to achieve a stable and lasting peace. Jesus came to give us peace, a peace that is not of this world. His peace is not just the absence of war, fighting and division. Since I come from Africa, the other kids at school make fun of me because of my accent. One day I had to draw something and I didn’t have a ruler, so I took one from the boy who sits next to me. He grabbed it from me and yelled: “I don’t want any foreigner touching my ruler!” I didn’t say anything and just picked up my pencil and started drawing the lines by hand. A little while later I took out one of my books and laid it on the desk. My classmate wanted to look at it, but I wouldn’t let him. Then I realized that if I want to live for peace, I have to love and forgive my enemies, too. So I let him see the book and he was very happy. After that we became real good friends. Omar OF “I give you my peace” Word of Life His peace is the fullness of life and joy. It is freedom, it is brotherhood among all nations. Jesus himself is our peace. What did Jesus do to give us his peace? He paid for it with his life. To be builders of peace, we too are asked to have a strong love, a love capable of:  loving even those who do not return our love;  forgiving our enemies;  loving the other person’s country as we love our own. This Word of Life asks us to change our life and not concentrate only on ourselves and what interests us, but be little heroes who in daily life serve others and are even ready to give our lives for them. It also requires that we have new eyes and a new heart to love everyone and see in them a candidate for living universal brotherhood, making the world one family. Peace starts right there – from the relationship with each person we meet. We can ask: “Even with the kids at school?” “Even with the other team that plays so rough?” “Even with people of another religion, or another nationality?” YES! Everyone is my brother or sister. How can Jesus give us his peace today? He can be present in our midst through our love for one another, through our unity. We can experience his light, his strength, his own Spirit whose fruits are love, joy and peace. The world will change if we change. Let’s try to live this way in the next month, so that we can be leaven for a new culture of peace and justice. We will see a new humanity come to birth around us. How We Live Notes for my experiences: Jn 14:27 “My peace I give to you.”

WORD LIFE OF John 14:27 From a commentary by Chiara Lubich prepared by the World Gen Center How can we be builders of peace? There are about 30 wars going on in the world today. Some are in the news all the time. Others are forgotten. All people, of all nations, long for peace, harmony and unity. Jesus came to bring us peace. His peace is the fullness of life and joy. It is brotherhood among all nations. To be builders of peace, we too are asked to have a strong love, a love capable of:  loving even those who do not return our love;  forgiving our enemies;  loving the other person’s country as we love our own. be little heroes who in everyday life serve others and are even ready to give our lives for them. This Word of Life asks us to change our life and not concentrate only on ourselves and what interests us, but Peace starts right here – from the relationship with each person we meet. a more beautiful world We will see come to life around us! Like what happened to Omar at school. One day we had to draw something and I didn’t have a ruler. So I took one from the boy who sits next to me. He grabbed it away from me. A little while later I took out one of my books. As soon as he saw it he wanted to look at it, but I wouldn’t let him. Then I realized that if I want to live for peace, I have to love and forgive. So I loaned him my book. He was very happy and after that we became good friends. “My peace I give to you.”