The world stands, as always, in the shadow of war. Even now, this December, as U.S. troops disengage from their war-making roll in Iraq, American military private contractors will continue a presence in the Iraqi nation. As we continue to engage Taliban, Al Qaeda and other potential enemy terrorists in Afghanistan, the threat of war looms across the Afghanistan borders with nuclear-armed Pakistan on one side and potentially nuclear-armed Iran on the other.
In the mean time, the Christian world celebrates the Season of Advent in expectation of Christmas and the coming of the Prince of Peace.
Christmas is, on the one hand, a celebratory remembrance of the birth of Jesus over 2,000 years ago. On the other hand, and more importantly for the faithful, Christmas is the time in which one experiences the birth of the Prince of Peace in the present tense. The welcoming of Emmanuel, God with us, is what faithful Christians hope to realize in their present lives. A significant question for believers is how, in this world that stands in the shadow of war, peace might be a reality and not just an ideal.
Peace is central to the hope of Christmas, and that hope transcends Christianity. It is a universal hope for the truly faithful of all religious traditions. In Islam, peace (salaam) is experienced as one submits (Islam) to the will of God. In Judaism, peace (shalom, which is also related to the Arabic, salaam) is derived from the concept of wholeness.
Peace is experience when one finds oneself in a holistic relationship with one’s self, with others and with the world. In Hinduism, peace is achieved as one works toward a life of harmony with the environment, with others and with ourselves. Buddhism holds that everything, including all human beings, is interconnected. As one becomes aware of one’s self as being a significant part of a greater whole, peace is experienced in one’s self and is shared with the world around. In Christianity, Jesus poured out the breath of peace on the disciples and blessed the peacemakers.
Peace is not something that can be imposed. It cannot be forced. It is something that must be born from within us. With this in mind, the Christian story of Mary is a way to gain insight into the subject of peace. From this perspective, Mary will not be seen simply as a Palestinian peasant girl of long ago. We will look upon her as an archetype of one who became peace so to give birth to one called the Prince of Peace. From this perspective, it is of no significance if we believe Mary really existed historically, or whether she was a virgin. What is important is to look to the story for clues about the character of peace and of one who became a peace bearer.
The Gospel of Luke provides us with three bits of information about Mary, her character and her disposition. Together they form the groundwork out of which peace can find a home in the world.
The first characteristic we encounter is when the angel comes to Mary to tell her that she will give birth to Jesus. “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you,” Gabriel says to Mary.
“Favored one” does not necessarily imply Mary is specially favored. It only means that she is favored. That favoritism is likely because, as the passage states, the Lord is with her. That the Lord is with her means, I believe, that she lives a life centered in sacredness. She sees life as something beautiful and sacred. She sees herself as a part of the wholeness of life. She realizes her interconnectedness with all that is. She is about to receive the breath of peace as she communes with the angel. This is not an experience for her exclusively, but is for all who relate to life and the world in a similarly sacred way.
If we are to be bearers of peace in the world, the first step is in the recognition life’s beauty, preciousness, wholeness and interconnectedness. It is to be mindful of the time you are in and of the places where you find yourself. It is to recognize and appreciate the moments through which our lives flow and to stand in awe of them. When we begin to live out of such gratefulness, our lives become graceful. In such grace, we too know that we are favored. To be favored is really to be prepared for peace.
Luke’s Gospel goes on to say Mary “was much perplexed by [the angel’s] words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.” The angel then said to her, “Do not be afraid.”
When we live mindfully and begin to experience the sacred nature of life, it can be quite perplexing. We see the world’s beauty and the beauty is magnified by the fact that everything is in flux, impermanent and transient. The beauty is beautiful because buried deep within everything, there is the element of tragedy. Our response is to flee. The angel, in seeing our fear says, “Do not be afraid.” It is out of this tragic sense of life that Jesus, the Prince of Peace is born.
Fear is the enemy of peace. We do not want to accept life’s tragic nature. We want permanence. We build up defenses to protect ourselves from life’s tragic realities. We attempt to impose our will upon the world and we search for scapegoats to blame for our fearfulness. We find ourselves living in a perpetual state of war. Sometimes the wars are hot. Often they are cold. None lead us to a life of peace.
The final characteristic of Mary that allows her to bear peace in the world is her willingness to surrender to peace’s possibility. As in Islam, she surrenders to the will of all that is holy. She says to the angel, “Let it be….”
Peace will never be born in our world unless there are enough of us who are willing “give peace a chance,” as an old song by John Lennon proclaims. If peace is not just an ideal, but instead a potentially living reality, giving peace a chance is, perhaps, the way in which we welcome the Divine into our world and into our lives.
The story of Mary and her encounter with the angel Gabriel is much more than just a story. It is a myth in the true sense of the word. It is a revelation into the truth of not what happened, but of what can happen. If we would learn from Mary, we will be bearers of Peace. Maybe, if enough learn Mary’s lesson, the world might begin to know peace. Even if that doesn’t happen, those who practice Mary’s way of being peace in the world will know the joy of that peacefulness.
