Give Peace a Chance

What we believe is a world of peace
Where there is no hatred, greed and selfishness
And what we are dreamin’
For a world to be lived in
Is that we give peace a chance once again…

I was happy to see my friend Fr. Tata Cabanero several days ago when he dropped by our place. Fr. Tata, who was ordained two years ago, is at present the parish priest of Kabacan, Cotabato. Since the place has been in the news lately because of the ongoing clashes between the military and the MILF, I was eager to hear from him a first hand information on the situation in his parish.

The young priest confided that he had just finished recording a song on peace as his personal response to this ongoing conflict in Mindanao. Borne out of prayer and reflection, the beautiful song was written and set into music in just an hour one morning after he celebrated Mass. He told me of the encounter between the military and the MILF one evening and how the following morning while getting ready for Mass and reflecting on his homily, the words just kept pouring on his head. Fr. Tata gave me a copy of the lyrics of the song, which I am printing here in full:

In the beginning
When god created the world
He said “everything is good”
There is peace and harmony.
What a beautiful sight
For the people to live
And God provides.

As the years go by
People were not contented and satisfied
They want to own the world
Even the life of man
Now there’s culture of war
Hatred has come to men.

Chorus:
What we believe is a world of peace.
And what we are dreamin’
For a world to be lived in
Is that we give peace a chance
once again.

Now the call is going out
To bring back the image
Of the world once lost
To instill in the hearts of people
To care for life, peace and unity
And fear of the Lord.

Bridge:
Now the time has come
To turn our swords into plough-shares
And build bridges instead of walls
And let peace begin within yourself.

Repeat chorus 2x
Let us give peace a chance once again.


The last sentence of the song is almost a wishful prayer. “Let us give peace a chance once again.”

Just recently my e-mail yielded a message asking for support through signature campaign to end Taliban’s war against women (Taliban is the ruling group in Afghanistan). Since 1996, when the Taliban came to power the women there have lost their relative freedom. For a little mistake a woman commits (like going out without properly covering her face) an angry mob or a male relative can stone her to death. The situation of women there seems so hopeless that many of them resort to suicide.

Our prayer for peace has never been so vital as of now. So many parts of the world are at war for so many reasons. How can peace happen in a world seemingly divided by ethnic beliefs and lost causes, we may ask? But peace becomes possible for us to achieve only if we allow it to take root in our hearts. It is a fact that unless there is peace and harmony within us, it is impossible to build peace outside of us. Peace is the fruit of the Spirit dwelling in the core of our hearts. It is the same Spirit that inspires us to go out of ourselves to communicate peace to others through various ways.