MY PEACE I GIVE TO YOU !

In the mouth of our Lord the ordinary Jewish greeting takes on its deepest meaning, because peace was one of the Messianic gifts par excellence. When bidding farewell to somebody who had done some good, our Lord often said: Go in peace.

He entrusts a mission of peace to his disci­ples. Whatever house you enter, first say: Peace be to this house. To desire peace for others and to foster it in our surroundings is a great human good, and when it is inspired by charity, it is also a great supernatural good.

When our soul is at peace it is a clear sign that God is close to us; besides it is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit, St Paul frequently exhorted the first Christians to live peaceful and happy lives: agree with one another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.

True peace is the result of holiness, the result of the struggle not to allow our love to be smothered by our disordered tendencies and our sins. When we love God, the soul is like a good tree, which is known by its fruits. Our actions reveal the presence of the Paraclete, and, insofar as they cause spiritual joy, they are called fruits of the Holy Spirit. One of these fruits is the peace of God, which passes all understanding, the true peace that Christ desired for the Apostles and for Christians of every era.

When God comes to you, you will feel the truth of these greetings: My peace I give to you … , peace I leave you … , peace be with you … , and you will feel it even in the midst of troubles. St Augustine describes true peace as tranquility in order, order between God and ourselves, order within ourselves and order in our relationships with others.

If we live that threefold order we will have peace, and we will transmit peace to others. Order towards God means that we are firmly determined to root all sin out of our lives and to center everything in Christ. Our Lord has entrusted to us the task of bringing peace to the world, starting by having peace in our own souls, and then in our family and place of work.

Sowers of peace and joy.

Christ is our peace. For twenty centuries he has been saying to us: Peace I leave you, my peace I give you. He wants each of us to proclaim this to the whole world, by the way we live; to the world in which we live, even if at times it may seem rather small. The life of the first Christians helped many to discover the meaning of their existence. They brought peace to their families and to the society in which they lived.

In many inscriptions from that period we find greetings with which they desire peace to others. This peace – which is from God – will be found on earth as long as there are men and women of good will. Remembering that we are children of God will give us that solid peace, which isn’t disturbed by the ups and downs of our emotions or the events of the day: it will give us the serenity and steadiness which we need so much.

To ensure that we are open and friendly to everyone, we need to stamp out any kind of antipathy or animosity; it would indicate that we were not very supernatural in our dealings with others. We also need to fight against any roughness or sharpness in our character which could upset others and would indicate that we are not sufficiently mortified. We need to fight against selfishness and against love of comfort. These are serious obstacles to friendship and to effectiveness in the apostolate.

Let us have recourse to Mary, our Mother, so that we may never lose our joy and our serenity. Mary is the Queen of Peace, and thus the Church invokes her: So when your soul or your family are troubled, or things go wrong at world, in society or between nations, cry out to her without ceasing. Call to her by this title: ‘Regina Pacis, ora pro nobis! (Queen of Peace, pray for us) Have you at least tried it when you have lost your calm? You will be surprised at its immediate effect,

Fr. Francis Fernandez (In Conversation with God)

Queen of Peace, pray for us!