The Face of Mercy / Daniel Conway

Liturgical seasons remind us our God is the God of Peace

(En Espanol)

Advent is the season of expectation. During these four weeks before Christmas, we look forward to the coming again of the Prince of Peace, and we wait patiently for the Blessed Hope who has promised to come into our hearts once again.

Peace is the first Christmas gift ever received. On the night our Savior was born in Bethlehem, the angels appeared to poor shepherds and proclaimed, “Peace on Earth and good will to all” (Lk 2:14).

Peace is also the first Easter gift. As Pope Francis teaches, “The greeting of the resurrected Christ, ‘Peace be with you’ [Jn 20:19], is the watchword of definitive triumph. To participate in this peace, to receive it, means to participate already in the peace of the Resurrection.”

Peace is God’s gift to us, his weary, anxious and frightened children. But, the pope cautions, “We must not confuse true peace with the illusion of peace.” A peace that is false “is the peace of ignorance, the peace of feigned innocence that dances around difficulties, the peace of the rich man who ignores Lazarus.” The illusion of peace comes from self-deception, complacency and the sin of indifference. This is not true peace.

“True peace grows out of the tension between two contrary elements,” the Holy Father tells us, “the acceptance of a present in which we recognize our weakness as sinners, and, at the same time, passing beyond the same present as if we were already freed from the burden of sin.”

The peace of Christ (Pax Christi) includes the tension that exists between our present reality, which is always fraught with imperfection, and a future reality we are called to embrace—the reign of God which is in our midst now, but which will not be fully realized until Christ comes again at the end of time. In the meantime, we wait in joyful hope for the peace that Christ assures us is both with us now and yet to come.

“We are not talking about an easy peace, but rather a demanding one,” Pope Francis teaches. “Peace does not eliminate fragility or deficiencies. This peace enables us to choose a state of life and to do God’s will. It is not the peace the world gives, but the peace of the Lord.”

The Lord’s peace is not complacent or indifferent. This is what Jesus means when he says: “Do not think that I have come to bring peace on Earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s foes will be those of his own household” (Mt 10:34-36).

This is the tension Pope Francis warns us about. Following Jesus, the Prince of Peace, is not easy. It means accepting our crosses in life, and it can mean suffering—even martyrdom—as we reject the ways of the world and strive to live the Beatitudes, the way of lasting peace. True peace can be unsettling, uncomfortable and even painful. It is a sword that cuts us off from selfishness and sin. But if we are patient, and persevere in following Christ, his peace will bring us lasting joy.

“Our God is the God of peace,” the pope assures us. “He desired to give us this peace, by pacifying us in his Son, so that we too would transmit it in turn, as the bond of communion that preserves unity.”

The angels’ song of peace, like the greeting of the risen Christ, is meant to comfort us in our anxiety and fear, but it is not false hope or empty promises. Because it is also a sword, the peace of Christ challenges us to let go of our illusions and to embrace the truth about ourselves: that we are sinners in need of God’s mercy.

“The advent of this peace was made known to all on Christmas Eve, and the echo of this announcement resounds all the way to Palm Sunday,” the Holy Father says. “We have been asked to seek it, and to direct our feet into the way of peace [Lk 1:79], for all of us have been called to live in peace.”

Come, O Prince of Peace. With St. Augustine, we pray: “Our heart is restless until it rests in you.” And with Pope Francis, we pray: “May this peace guard our hearts and minds and inspire us to seek peace with all men and women.”
 

(Daniel Conway is a member of The Criterion’s editorial committee.) †