“if you want peace, …”

The nearly ubiquitous John Allen, the solitary boast of the NCR, has a lengthy wrap-up of the Holy Father’s trip to Africa.

A reader pointed out to me that Mr Allen wrote about Pope Benedict’s exhortation to be and remain Catholic:

If the old slogan was, “If you want peace, work for justice,” Benedict’s version might be “If you want justice, go to church.”

I might add, as I have repeated for years,

Save The Liturgy – Save The World!

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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9 Comments

  1. vox borealis says:

    Si vis pacem, para bellum?

    Happy Thanksgiving to Father Z and all readers.

  2. ghp95134 says:

    Hmmm…. Google Translate renders that, with one manual manipulation of text, as:
    Si vis iustitiae ire ad Ecclesiam

    Anent to your rider, “…if you want peace….”
    …. if one really wants peace: Si vis pacem, para bellum. Which gets me thinking (yes, dangerous territory — just ask my wife!) … Perhaps a “parabellum” could be equivalent to the “biretta/beretta” in that you are preparing for war on the Evil one. I suppose you could likewise employ the Colt “peacemaker” … but that would be a parapacem, n’est-ce pas?
    –Guy

    [/ramble mode]

  3. ghp95134 says:

    Arrrggghhh, Vox! I was too long in the composition phase … you aced me out!

    Happy Thanksgiving!

    –Guy
    (wearing last year’s loose trousers and larger belt to “parabellum” for dinner in one hour)

  4. Maltese says:

    With all respect, all of the slogans presented herein are inadequate; really, ineffective. I make no apologies for my commitment–my penchant, and deep-felt love–for the old mass.

    If you want peace and Justice in the world save Catholic Tradition. I mean that with all my heart.

    I’ll present a syllogism to prove my point:

    God is perfect love preserved in the Catholic faith
    The TLM preserves the Sacrifice of Christ perfectly
    Therefore one fulfills one’s Catholic duty at a TLM

  5. frjim4321 says:

    True, justice does not seem to be the priority is once was.

  6. Campionsbrag says:

    Michael, sadly, I think your syllogism fails.

    You would need to add an “only” to the beginning of your second premise and your first premise implies that God’s perfect love is reliant upon the Catholic faith, whereas I think it is the other way round.

  7. Supertradmum says:

    Justice is not merely a thing, it is a Attribute of God, Who is All Just. One cannot have Justice without a God-centered society. One cannot have a God-centered society without the One, Holy, Catholic Church.

  8. catholicmidwest says:

    Not so, frjim4321,
    This very weekend we are seeing an historic instance of justice take place in front of our very eyes.

  9. Johnno says:

    I always thought the old slogan was, “If you want peace, prepare for war.”

    Or maybe it was, “In times of peace, prepare for war”?

    The meaning being, that you’re going to have to fight for true peace because many obstacles lie ahead of you or rather, in peaceful times, do not take peace for granted, you have to work to keep it lasting…

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