IF we believe in the words of Christ, we certainly would know where to find the true peace, one that will always be effective whatever the situations and conditions of our life are. It’s a peace that comes to us both in good times and in bad times. “Peace I leave with you,” he said. “My peace I give unto you, not as the world gives, do I give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid.” (Jn 14,27)
We need to know what exactly is this kind of peace, because as Christ clearly said, it is not one that the world gives, not the one that our own human estimation that is based only on worldly criteria gives.
It is the peace that comes as a result of our following Christ, of our effort to identify ourselves with him. It is a peace that comes as a result of our pursuit for holiness. It therefore is one that would be a result of some struggle or warfare, of our effort to fight against the enemies of God and of our own soul: our weaknesses and temptations that come from our wounded flesh, the world and the devil himself.
Christ is the prince of peace. He knows how to tackle any and all sources and causes of trouble, conflict and war. He meets them head-on, not escaping from them, and in fact converts these causes of evil and war into paths to goodness and human redemption.
He goes straight to the very core of evil, the malice that can spring in the hearts of men, the primal source of all our troubles, conflicts and wars. And he does the ultimate to annul the effects of evil, by assuming them himself, killing them with his own death, and conquering them with his own resurrection. He always has the last word.
When we do our part in our relation with Christ, we are assured of that peace. Christ himself said it clearly that while in this world we will always have trouble, he said that we should not worry since he already has conquered the world. (cfr. Jn 16,33)
We really need to be identified with Christ to have peace in ourselves and in everybody else all over the world. It is a peace that comes as a result of reconciliation. It therefore involves repentance, conversion, struggle, that Christ has shown to us by embracing the cross and dying on it.
The cross of Christ is all at once the summary of all our sins as well as the supreme act of love of Christ for us. It is both the tree of death and the tree of life. It’s where all the malice of man meets the tremendous mercy of God. Christ is asking us to carry the cross also with him. Only then can we have true peace that comes from Christ.
This is the peace that cannot waver even under the severe assaults of trials, difficulties and failures. It is the peace that involves a certain abandonment of everything in our life in the hands of God, even as we do our part of dealing with them.
We have to learn to receive and keep this peace that Christ gives us. We might have to pause from time to time to make this truth of our faith sink deeply in our consciousness and be the guiding principle of our life.
This is the peace that leads us to joy. They actually go together—“gaudium cum pace,” joy with peace, as one prayer in preparation for celebrating the Mass would put it.
