At the beginning of the book of Genesis, the Bible tells us that God planted a garden in Eden. Eden is a place of delights, gentleness, goodness, and kindness. After planting all the trees and plants in the garden, God placed the man and the woman there so that they would be happy and receive an abundance of life. Then God encouraged man to plant in turn, to multiply, to be fruitful in every sense of the word, for man was now to continue and complete what God had began.

But man breaks his contract with God. Adam and Eve are evacuated from Eden. Cain kills his brother Abel and does not want to take responsibility for it. Violence takes hold of the now mortgaged humanity and we are still experiencing its harsh consequences today. Who will repair this breach? The Bible already presents us with a female character who will crush the head of the serpent... a second Eve who, this time, will say "yes" to the Father's project. She will shelter in her womb the Prince of Peace; he will be born of her and will be planted in this world to install his light and his peace. On a cross planted on Golgotha, he will be erected and crucified to obtain our salvation.

Thanks to the Virgin Mary and her son Jesus, we can, in turn, work to build peace in our surroundings. With them, in the Holy Spirit, we can plant a garden of peace, plant by plant, seed by seed, by our actions and our attitudes, so that our world becomes once again a place of kindness and gentleness. I wish us to become "planters of peace", the fifth and not the least of our five attitudes of life.

Violaine Couture, Oblate fromCanada