Seyara De Silva recently won the Year 11-13 category of the Christchurch Catholic Commission Justice & Peace Competition with her essay entitlted "Does forgiveness open the door to peace?"

Judges said "We were especially impressed with how she applied the Catholic Social Teaching principles so effectively, and how we could "hear" a teenager’s voice through her well-chosen examples of forgiveness. This made her message feel very real and tangible, bringing the topic to life in a way that was both relatable and compelling.

You can read Seyara's Essay below

Does forgiveness open the door to peace?

Forgiveness, in its very core, opens the door to peace. When you forgive, you choose a path of love over hurt, and understanding over vengeance. Choosing these compassionate values over what is easy, allows for God’s love to be spread around the world. Loving your neighbour so wholly that you forgive them when they hurt you, fosters peace with your prosecutors, with yourself, and ultimately in society. As my essay explores forgiveness through the lens of the Catholic Social Teaching Principles, its role as an opening to peace will become further apparent. 

Forgiveness is only as effective as the attitude behind it. The right attitude to forgive is rooted in a willingness to act towards the common good and in solidarity with others. Commitment to the common good is about having a larger perspective and considering what’s best for everybody. Choosing not to hold a grudge will always be better for everybody. Furthermore, it allows you to not make a concern out of harm, as you are focused on working for others and God. Solidarity is the recognition of our interconnected humanity, creating the necessity of acting in whakawhanaungatanga, rather than individualism. To possess the capability to be at peace with your adversary (even to consider what’s best for them), you must have it ingrained in you to want to work for the betterment of society rather than your selfish interests. When this intention sits behind the decision to forgive, your heart is truly aligned in finding peace through forgiveness. 

The next step towards forgiveness is the reasoning for it. When someone hurts us, it is often hard to empathise with them. We struggle to see how they could find something morally justifiable, or how they could act in the spur of the moment with such hatred. However, as Catholics, we are called to respect everyone, due to their innate dignity from being made in the image of God. With the recognition of human dignity, our empathetic reasoning advances. We can understand that all the uncontrollable events in a person’s life form one harmful action. Although we’ll never experience their life, once we comprehend that no person is perfect, we find a consistent reason to forgive. This builds genuine forgiveness that allows for peace in our hearts. 

Observing our mindset towards forgiveness through Catholic Social Teachings of common good, solidarity, and human dignity allows us to develop a deeper capacity for considering and caring for others. This capacity is love. And the fruit of love is peace. This love that we act in purifies our hearts, creating self-peace. It also sets us up as a role model for those who hurt us. When we act in love, they are inspired to someday act in love. This ripple effect creates the promotion of peace around the world. As Pope Francis reminds us, ‘Every human being

desires communion and peace. Everyone needs peaceful co-existence. But this can grow only when we also build inner peace in our heart.’ (Pope Francis May 21, 2016). 

Forgiveness with this attitude in cases related to any of the other Catholic Social Teachings allows for peace. Participation. When a person forgives, they open up the opportunity to build more relationships. This encourages connections and more participation among people to work together. Distributive justice. Forgiveness of past mistakes of others (such as colonisation, wars, and stereotypes) and commitment to moving forward can lead to opportunities where more equitable decisions can be made. Preferential option for the poor and vulnerable. Similarly, commitment to supporting the most vulnerable in society and forgiveness of those who put them in these positions allows for more positive and supportive choices to be made. Stewardship. Forgiveness of those who harmed the Earth/ created technology that normalises our harm to the earth leads to our ability to move forward in stewardship. We are allowed to be better guardians of the Earth. Subsidiarity. Forgiveness of those who took other’s voices away allows us to focus on returning their voices. All of these final actions allow for more love and peace in the world. 

To further understand these concepts, we can analyse some of our role models in forgiveness. 

Firstly, our biggest role model. Jesus Christ. His entire purpose on Earth was for solidarity and the common good. As His people crucified Him, He chose forgiveness. “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing”(Luke 23:34). Jesus recognized the human dignity of others, as well as the innate mistakes of being human. He forgave the biggest sin of taking life away. Furthermore, he forgave those that cast out the minorities, which allowed him to give everybody a voice and support the poor and vulnerable. Jesus’ actions led to atonement and, ultimately, peace between us and God. 

These concepts can be applied to Pope John Paul II who chose forgiveness towards his almost-assassin. Pope John Paul was known for his devotion to continuing the non-violent solidarity movement. After his injury, he spoke about the person who shot him, as his brother. Pope John Paul II acknowledged the innate human dignity of this person, through these simple but effective words. Furthermore, he encouraged participation in Catholicism towards the whole world. Ultimately, he inspired millions of Catholics as well as his perpetrator to follow a more peaceful path. 

A saint I hold dear to my heart for her forgiveness is St Maria Goretti. Her final words towards Alessandro Serenelli (who stabbed her 14 times) were “For the love of Jesus I forgive him ... .and I want him to be with me in Paradise” (Catholics for Catholics Saint Maria Goretti). From a young age, Maria worked for God, rather than her desires, showing her understanding of solidarity. Her hope for the redemption of Alessandro showed her acknowledgement of human dignity. Furthermore, her forgiveness led to the conversion of her murderer, who devoted his life to peace once released from prison.

For most of us, we do not experience life-threatening harm. Our challenge to forgiveness comes in the form of day-to-day annoyances. It’s the smallest things that we hold a grudge about. Forgiving our siblings for eating the last piece of cake, forgiving our friends for an annoying comment, forgiving our classmates for being loud. Within these situations, you can always create inner peace, peace between your siblings, friends, and classmates, and eventually world peace. 

In conclusion, forgiveness opens the door to peace, as demonstrated through the lens of the Catholic Social Teachings. We must recognize that in a world filled with war, it is our duty to create peace amidst our small communities. So all of us together must unite in forgiveness for the future of a more peaceful world.

Article added: Tuesday 22 October 2024