Crossing the Line for Peace
I can still recall the fascination I felt the first time I heard the story about the truce on Christmas day during World War I. It seems that just a few weeks before that, the Pope at the time, Benedict XV, had pleaded for hostilities to cease at least for the celebration of Christmas. But the decision-makers of warring countries turned a deaf ear to his appeal. There was to be no official cease-fire. But on Christmas Day the soldiers in the trenches declared their own unofficial truce.
It started on Christmas eve when they sang carols for one another across the dividing lines. Then at the first light of dawn on Christmas Day, some of the German soldiers came up out of their trenches crossing no-man’s land to wish “Merry Christmas” to the Allied Soldiers. Soon the former enemies exchanged presents of cigarettes and plum puddings and sang songs. I remember our teacher telling us that some soldiers from opposing sides even played a good-natured game of soccer together.
Growing up that story of a temporary truce was an inspirational example of goodness in the face of evil, a symbol of doing the right thing despite the risk.
Yes, it’s always right to take the initiative in reaching out, to be the first to love. It’s a decision that arises in our heart. As Pope Francis put it when speaking at a General Audience at which a Diocesan pilgrimage from Limerick was present: “War does not begin on the battlefield: war, wars begin in the heart”.
But what about us this Christmas? Perhaps we too can decide in our heart to offer to cross the line, hold out the hand of friendship to someone we are at odds with.
In the Christmas scene we contemplate in the crib, God reveals his tender heart to us. It pulls at our heartstrings, inviting enemies to speak to each other again, adversaries to join hands, and people to seek to meet together.
During World War I the soldiers unleashed a little revolution of tenderness and peace on the Western Front. It was a magical event that abides today because peace is always the way.