peace

What is peace? Peace is something closely related to war. It is a consequence of victory; peace demands a continual struggle on my part Without struggle I will never have peace.

The peace that Christ offers us is not just a comfortable and selfish feeling of tranquillity, but is rather the result of sacrifice and generosity. It is not the cowardly sense of calm we might achieve by avoiding the demands of our personal struggle or running away from the challenges of our surroundings. Let's remember that Christ says: I have come to bring a sword, not peace. And our Father comments: Few people understand that war is a necessary means to peace. First, we must wage war on ourselves; we each need to wage a personal battle against our own passions. Isn't that your experience, your Christian struggle, which consists in overcoming yourselves and preparing to be people who serve?

If we want to attain peace, we need to be courageous in the ascetical struggle. What a taste of gall and vinegar, of ash and bitter aloes! What a dry and coated palate! And this physiological feeling seems as nothing compared with that other bad taste, the one in your soul. The fact is that "more is being asked of you" and you can't bring yourself to give it. Humble yourself. Would that bitter taste still remain in your flesh and your spirit if you did all that you could?

With a filial spirit let us fight in our interior life, in an ascetical struggle that fills us with joy and optimism, with peace and hope. We thank God for revealing to us the basis of the gaudium cum pace, the joyful peace he desires for all his children.

We must also struggle in apostolic endeavours, so as to bring about the peace of Christ in the kingdom of Christ. We want the Cross to triumph over its enemies, so that peace may reign in the world. Our divine war is a wonderful sowing of peace, our Founder told us.

But we know that peace will have its consummation only in heaven. Earthly peace is only a beginning, a mere foreshadowing of the full and perfect peace awaiting us as a reward for winning the battle of love: the battle of personal sanctity and apostolate. As Christ promises in today's Mass: Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. And our Father comments: Try to find anyone on earth who repays with such generosity