Peace at any price is no peace at all, especially if the price for maintaining the peace is to live with a lie, rather than speak the Truth. To try and maintain a status quo of uneasiness between people in the hope that this will engender peace is to mistake real peace for a false peace, which in the end fails to achieve its purpose to make whole that which has been broken.
When a persons trust has been destroyed by another it takes time for the Divine Physician to heal a soul wound, for real peace lay not in the power of humans but is in the Hands of the Divine from whom we seek our own inner healing from wounds inflicted upon us.
Real peace does not mean an absence of anger, true and sincere peace of heart is maintaining a quiet peaceful heart amidst the raging turmoil of anger, hate and strife. It is the ability not to be swayed this way or that way or allowing others to provoke us or to allow others to manipulate us. This does not mean we must sit quietly and watch wrongs being said or done against another, but it is to speak the truth gently and firmly as it is and to then move on irrespective of how others accept the truth spoken.
In order to maintain this peace we need to be Christ centred and to keep a strong prayer life which is the life blood of the soul. This takes discipline and also wisdom to discern what is truth and to then speak this truth with conviction whilst keeping a gentle heart.
The world at times can be a tumultuous place, where family and friends can become embroiled in open disputes. Where nations can rise against another and where leaders in an attempt to maintain a false peace endeavour to make pacts with the Devil. It is good to strive to bring peace to our world but not at the price of our freedoms which those who live in civilized countries enjoy. History records the attempts made before the Second World War, when the then Prime Minister of Britain Neville Chamberlain met the German Chancellor Adolf Hitler and though both signed the Munich Peace Agreement, still peace did not eventuate even though upon his return to England Prime Minister Chamberlain made this statement, "My good friends, for the second time in our history, a British Prime Minister has returned from Germany bringing peace with honor. I believe it is peace for our time... Go home and get a nice quiet sleep." Unfortunately it would be many years before Europe would be able to enjoy a 'quiet sleep'.
We cannot maintain our peace by putting our heads in the sand and pretending that all is well or by negotiating with those who use and abuse our good intentions for their own manipulative purposes. This is not to say that we must be at war with everyone but it does mean we must become wise to the motives of others and not allow ourselves to be moved from the centre of God's Heart. St. Francis of Assisi teaches us in these words, "while you are proclaiming peace with your lips, be careful to have it even more fully in your heart." This wise Saint knew that in order for us to keep our peace we must live it from within, for a heart that is easily roused to anger is a heart not living in inner tranquility.
To live a peaceful life in this world of turmoil and strife, we need to understand that our enemy is not any one person the enemy is within our own soul, but at times the Principality of evil will use people to drive a wedge of discontent amongst Gods beloved children. This is why it is essential to keep a strong prayer life and to make use of the Sacraments of the Church as often as possible. A person that is centred on Christ is not easily moved by the emotionalism of others or by those who prefer to embrace hate rather than love. As that great Doctor of the Church, St. Francis de Sales said, "Do not lose your inward peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset." This is a learning process in that we at times all lose our temper and can become agitated over the actions of others, but this is not an excuse to remain in that condition.
This is why it is wisdom to remove ourselves from the company of those who have embraced hatred and vitriol and who refuse to listen to anyone including the Word of God as Scripture reveals, "Everyone who commits sin commits lawlessness, for sin is lawlessness. You know that he was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who remains in him sins; no one who sins has seen him or known him. Children, let no one deceive you. The person who acts in righteousness is righteous, just as he is righteous. Whoever sins belongs to the devil, because the devil has sinned from the beginning. Indeed, the Son of God was revealed to destroy the works of the devil. No one who is begotten by God commits sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot sin because he is begotten by God. In this way, the children of God and the children of the devil are made plain; no one who fails to act in righteousness belongs to God, nor anyone who does not love his brother." This is a warning to each of us, for the company we keep we will become, therefore to those who refuse to follow and obey the Word of God and the Teachings of our Church should be let alone as others pray that they will once again return to Gods embrace.
It is when we embrace people who are in obvious states of sin and who refuse to follow the Tenets of our Church that we can become confused in our unwillingness to judge others. We do not judge those we caution if their behaviour is sinning against God and their fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Through fear of being thought judgmental we then become enablers to the sins of another as we encourage the very actions which may lead to their doom and become accomplices to vice!
In order to keep our peace we need to recognise that this peace is from Christ and cannot be found anywhere else. It is Gods Gift to those who have put aside their 'old selves' and embraced the 'new self' as they walk with Christ in the Light of His Word and the Teachings of His Church.
Our obligation as God fearing Christians is to speak God's Truth with gentleness and then to stand firm if any find this Truth to be loathsome. It is not up to us to engage in bickering but instead to speak it and then to quietly pray for those who find this Teaching too hard to accept.
To remain quiet in the midst of sin as if it were not happening is not 'peace', that is false peace which leads to false charity when we condone evil as a right. It is never right to do wrong as if the end justifies the means, we must at all times speak The Truth even to our own peril as Winston Churchill once said, "Truth is incontrovertible, malice may attack it and ignorance may deride it, but, in the end, there it is."
We must at all times remember that we are in the company of our Lord and what cannot be spoken in His Presense should not be whispered in dark corners, as St. Teresa of Avila said, "however quietly we speak, God is so near he will hear us."
Peace of Christ to ALL
Copyright © 2006 Marie Smith. All rights reserved.
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