Prince of Peace

By Fr. Conor Donnelly

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In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

My Lord and my God, I firmly believe that you are here, that you see me, that you hear me. I adore you with profound reverence. I ask your pardon for my sins and grace to make this time of prayer fruitful. My Immaculate Mother, Saint Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

“Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth to men of good will” (Luke 2:14).

Peace is one of the great goods constantly implored from God in the Old Testament.

It's this gift that is promised to the people of Israel as a reward for their fidelity (Lev. 26:6), and it is seen as a work of God (Isa. 26:12) from which flow uncountable benefits.

But real peace came into the world only with the coming of the Messiah. That's why at the Nativity of Our Lord, the angels proclaim it, singing: “Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth to men of good will” (Luke 2:14).

Advent and Christmas are particularly opportune times for the growth of peace in our hearts. They are also times to pray for peace in the world, torn as it is by conflict and widespread dissension.

In one of the Antiphon prayers it says, “Behold: the Lord is coming in power to bring peace to his people and to give them eternal life.”

Isaiah reminds us in the First Reading of the Mass today that in the Messianic era, “the wolf shall live peacefully with the lamb, and the leopard lie down with the kid, and the calf of the lion and the beast of the field dwell together” (Isa. 11:6).

With the Messiah's coming, the peace and harmony the world knew at the beginning of creation are restored and a new order is inaugurated.

Isaiah says, the Lord is the “Prince of Peace” (Isa. 9:6), and from the very moment of His birth, He brings us a message of peace and joy—the only true peace and the only real joy—which later He will sow wherever He goes: “Peace be with you; it is I, do not be afraid” (Luke 24:36). These were the words Our Lord spoke to the apostles when He came to them walking on the water.

The presence of Christ in our lives is always the source of calm and indestructible peace. He also tells us, “It is I, do not be afraid.”

In the Acts of the Apostles, we're told the teaching of Our Lord constitutes “the good news of peace” (Acts 10:36).

And this same peace is also the treasure He has passed on to His disciples in every age: “Peace I leave you; my peace I give you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you” (John 14:27).

In Gaudium et Spes of the Second Vatican Council, it says, “Earthly peace, which comes from the love of our fellow man, is a type and a result of the peace of Christ issuing from God the Father. The incarnate Son himself, the Prince of Peace, reconciled all men to God through his cross. In his own flesh he killed hatred; and after he had risen, he poured out the spirit of charity into the hearts of men” (Vatican II, Gaudium et spes, Point 78, December 7, 1965).

The peace of God completely transcends an earthly peace, which can so easily be superficial and unreal, stemming often from selfishness, and not at all incompatible with injustice.

St. Paul says to the Ephesians that “Christ is our peace” (Eph. 2:14) and our joy. Sin, on the other hand, sows nothing but loneliness, anxiety, and sadness in the soul.

Christian peace, so necessary for apostolate and good fellowship, is the product of interior order, of a consciousness of our own failings and virtues, of unfailing respect for others, and a complete confidence in God, who, we know, will never abandon us. St. Augustine says peace is the “tranquility of order” (St. Augustine, City of God).

It's the consequence of humility, of awareness of our divine filiation—that we are children of God—and of the struggle against our own passions, which tend always towards disorder and disruption.

We lose our peace through sin, through pride, and by not being sincere with ourselves and with God. Peace can also be lost through impatience; when we're unable to see the providential hand of God in times of difficulty and contradiction.

The sincere confession of our sins is one of the main ways that God has given us to recover the peace that has been lost through sin or by the failure to correspond with His grace.

St. John Paul says, “Peace with God, the result of justification and the rejection of sin; peace with our fellow men, the fruit of love dispersed by the Holy Spirit; peace with ourselves, the peace of conscience proceeding from victory over our passions and over evil” (John Paul II, Address to UNIV, Point 4, March 24, 1986).

The recovery of peace, if it has been lost, is one of the best signs of love for those around us, and its acquisition also the first task in preparing our hearts for the coming of the infant Christ.

True peace gives joy and serenity to those who lack them. St. John Chrysostom says in the Beatitude in which He proclaims the gift of peace, “Our Lord is not merely seeking to do away with all kinds of controversy and enmity between men; he is asking more of us: that we try to bring peace, no less, to those who hate us” (John Chrysostom, Homily on St. Matthew).

The Christian is a man of peace, a man open to peace, and his presence should spread tranquility and happiness around him. And we're talking about real peace, not just about those false states that are substitutes for it.

Blessed are we when we know how to bring peace to the afflicted, when we serve as instruments of unity in our families, among our workmates, and in all those that we meet in the course of our daily lives.

To put this vitally important commitment into practice, we have to be very humble and conciliatory. The Book of Proverbs tells us that “pride does nothing but cause dissension” (Prov. 13:10).

The man who carries peace in his heart knows how to communicate it almost unthinkingly, and others look to him for support and for peace of mind.

Many of the people who knew Blessed Álvaro del Portillo used to talk about certain qualities that characterized him, and one of them was his peace. His biographer says you could detect that it wasn't a genetic peace. Some people, you can explode a bomb beside them and they won't even blink. It wasn't that type of peace. It was an acquired peace.

Many cardinals have stated how very often when they went to see him, they often came away with much greater peace. He communicated that peace to many other people.

His successor, who went to see him on the night when he got his final heart attack and called for some help and assistance, said, “We found him with the peace that characterized him.” So, he communicated that peace.

That peace can be an enormous help in our apostolate. We have to try and spread the interior peace that we have in our hearts, wherever we find ourselves.

Our Lord blesses in a special way those who pray for peace among nations and work, with a right intention, to obtain it and to pray for peace in society, peace in families, in neighborhoods, in environments.

Above all, He blesses those who offer prayer and sacrifice in order to reconcile men with God, those who try to bring peace to hearts by bringing them closer to the Prince of Peace. This is the first task in any kind of apostolic activity.

The apostolate of confession, which moves us to bring our friends to this sacrament, must deserve a special reward in heaven, for it is surely the best source of peace and joy that there is in the world.

Pope St. John Paul said, “Those confessionals scattered about the world where men declare their sins don't speak of the severity of God. Rather do they speak of His mercy. And all those who approach the confessional, sometimes after many years weighed down with mortal sins, in the moment of getting rid of this intolerable burden, find at last a longed-for relief. They find joy and tranquility of conscience, which, outside Confession, they will never be able to find anywhere” (John Paul II, Homily, March 16, 1980).

I remember a man telling me once that when he converted from Protestantism to Catholicism, that he looked forward every week to going to Confession. He told me, “You see, Father, when I go out of here, I know I'm a free man and a happy man. When I was a Protestant, people talked a lot about confessing our sins to God. That sounds very well, but the trouble with that is that you don't know if you've been forgiven or not. And I look forward to hearing those words from the priest every week: ‘I absolve you from your sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Now go in peace.’”

St. Matthew says those who have the peace of God and pass it on to others around them “will be called children of God” (cf. Matt. 5:9). St. John Chrysostom explains: “Truly it has been the work of the Only Begotten One to unite those who were apart and to reconcile those who were at war with one another” (John Chrysostom, Homily on St. Matthew).

Within our own family, at our place of work, and among friends, we also, in this time of Advent, will try to impart a deeper sense of union with God among those around us, and a still more loving and joyful fellowship.

Our divine affiliation can be the foundation of our peace and of our joy, that we are children of God.

St. John Paul said, “When a man forgets his eternal destiny, and when the horizons of his life are limited by his earthly existence, he's content with a fictitious peace, with a mere outward appearance of tranquility. All he asks is the illusory security of attaining the greatest possible material well-being with the least effort.

“In this way he builds an imperfect and unstable peace, and since it's not rooted in the dignity of the human person—a person made in the image and likeness of God and called to His divine sonship—it doesn't work. We must never be content with these substitutes for peace, for their fruit produces the most bitter disillusionment. Our Lord emphasized this when he said to his apostles shortly before his ascension into heaven: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you; not as the world gives do I give it to you’” (John 14:27).

St. John Paul also said, “There are two kinds of peace: that which men can make for themselves alone, and that which is the gift of God;…that which is imposed by force of arms and that which is born of the heart.

“The former is fragile and insecure; it could be called a mere appearance of peace because it's founded on fear and mistrust. The latter, on the contrary, is a strong and durable peace, and being founded on justice and love, it permeates the heart. It's a gift God gives ‘to those who love his law’” (Ps. 119:165; John Paul II, Address to UNIV, Point 3, March24, 1986).

If we are men and women with true peace in our hearts, we will be the better able to live like children of God and will the better be able to live brotherhood with our fellow citizens. Also, we will be better able to live in harmony, and also, insofar as we realize that we are children of God, we will be men and women of lasting peace.

Divine filiation is the foundation of the Christian's peace and joy. In it, we find the security we need, a fatherly warmth and trust for the future. We live in the assurance that behind all the disappointments of life there is a good reason. St. Paul says, “In everything, God works for the good with those who love him” (Rom. 8:28).

Considering our divine filiation will help us to be strong in the face of difficulties. In Friends of God, St. Josemaría said, “Don't be frightened; don't fear any harm, even though the circumstances in which you work are terrible. … God's hand is as powerful as ever, and, if necessary, he will work miracles” (Josemaría Escrivá, Friends of God, Point 105).

We are well protected. So, we can try in these days of Advent to foster peace and joy, overcoming every obstacle. We learn to find God in everything, even in the most difficult situations.

“Seek his face, Whoever dwells in real and bodily presence in His Church,” said St. John Henry Newman” (John Henry Newman,Sermon for the Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany).

“Do at least as much as the disciples did. They had but little faith; they feared; they had no great confidence or peace, but at least they did not keep away from Christ. … Do not keep from him, but, when you are in trouble, come to him day by day, asking him earnestly and perseveringly for those favors which he alone can give. … So, though he discerns many infirmities in you which ought not to be there, yet he will deign to rebuke the winds and the sea, and say: ‘Peace, be still’ (Mark 4:39). And there will be a great calm” (ibid.)

Christ's presence in the hearts of His followers is the beginning of true peace. Such peace brings with it rich fulfillment. It's not mere ease of life or absence of struggle.

This stream of peace in our soul, an overflowing stream, begins with the acknowledgment of our sins, our faults, our negligence, and our errors.

Then if we are humble and we look at Christ, He will disclose to us His great mercy, “as though he were hidden behind a veil, saying to us,” as one spiritual writer said, “‘Those are the shortcomings I have taken upon myself in order to show you the Father's love in a very personal way, through this loneliness and sorrow.

“His love is the only love capable of freeing us from our wretchedness, of turning it around, so to speak, and using it towards our salvation.’ Then there will resound in the ear of our hearts the words, ‘Your faith has saved you’ (Luke 7:50) and has cured you. Go in peace” (Servais Pinckaers, In Search of Happiness).

There is no peace without contrition. There is no peace unless we are deeply sincere with ourselves and acknowledge those things in our lives that separate us from God and our fellow men. There is no peace without deep, undiluted sincerity in Confession.

With this interior calm, we will find that by beginning over and over again, and never complying with our defects and our shortcomings, we will be able to go out into the world, to that space in which we spend each day of our lives, and spread around us that peace that the world does not have and consequently cannot give.

“Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house’” (Luke 10:5). It's not simply a greeting—it is Christ's peace that His followers have to take out into all the paths of the world.

We will say to everyone that true peace “is founded on justice,” says St. Paul VI, “on the sense of the inviolable dignity of man, on the acceptance of an indelible and desirable equality of man, on the basic principle of human brotherhood, that is to say, on the respect and love due to each human person” (Paul VI, Message for the World Day of Peace, January 1, 1971).

The peace of the world begins within the heart of each individual. The Christian who lives by faith is a man of peace who spreads serenity around him. People feel at ease with him and others seek his company.

We can ask Our Lady, as we finish these moments of prayer, to teach us to go humbly to the source of peace—the tabernacle, Confession, spiritual direction—if ever we see that anxiety, fear, sadness, or worry are seeking a way of entering into our hearts.

Then Our Lady, who is the Queen of Peace, will help us to have peace in our hearts, to recover it if we have lost it, and to pass it on to those around us.

Since the feast of the Immaculate Conception is fast approaching, we can do all we can to turn to her all day long, keeping her closer to us in our work and offering her some special token of our affection.

I thank you, my God, for the good resolutions, affections, and inspirations that you have communicated to me during this meditation. I ask your help to put them into practice. My Immaculate Mother, Saint Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

UI