AUGUST 15 is a significant date in our national calendar: we commemorate the end of the Second World War, with the victory over Imperial Japan being 80 years ago.

It is also the Feast of Entry of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven. Various Christian denominations celebrate this feast in different ways. For Anglicans, it the main feast for Mary and the prayer for the day indicates her being in heaven. Roman Catholics, as well as Orthodox Christians, also celebrate this same essential belief that she is in heaven. Many Christians would think that if anyone has gone to heaven, it would be Mary.

As we ponder Mary’s entry into heaven, we can tend to think that God’s kingdom is in the future. That would be wrong. In the prayer that Jesus taught us, we pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on Earth as in heaven”.

So, the question is, was the end of the Second World War a real peace? Was the absence of violence on a world a real peace, the peace Christ came to bring?

In the years that followed the end of the war, there were wars in many parts of the world. Conflicts continue today, bringing suffering to so many innocent people. We particularly think of Gaza and Ukraine, but there are other conflicts which have slipped out of the headlines.

We should ask the question is just the absence of war a real peace, the peace Jesus came to bring?

At the end of the Christian year, we celebrate the Feast of Christ the King when his kingdom is described as “a kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love and peace”.

A kingdom in which all people and creation can flourish – certainly worth working to establish.

Canon Malcolm Bowers