Peace is one of the great goods constantly implored in the Old Testament. This gift is promised to the people of Israel as a reward for their faithfulness, and it appears as a work of God from which countless benefits follow. But true peace will come to earth with the coming of the Messiah. That is why the angels announce in song: Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth to men of good will. Advent and Christmas are especially opportune times to increase peace in our hearts; they are also times to ask for peace in this world full of conflicts and dissatisfactions.
Behold: Our Lord is coming with strength. To visit his people with peace and give them eternal life. Isaiah reminds us in the First Reading of the Mass that in the Messianic era the wolf will dwell with the lamb, the panther will lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion will graze together. With the Messiah the peace and harmony of the beginning of Creation are renewed and a new order is inaugurated.
The Lord is the Prince of peace, and from the very moment he is born he brings us a message of peace and joy, the only true peace and the only certain joy. Then he will sow them as he goes along all the roads: Peace be with you; it is I, fear not. The presence of Christ in our lives is, in every circumstance, the source of a serene and unalterable peace: It is I, do not be afraid, he tells us.
The Lord's teachings constitute the good news of peace. And this is also the treasure that he has left us as an inheritance to his disciples of all times; peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, not as the world gives to you9. "Peace on earth, born of love of neighbor, is the image and effect of the peace of Christ, which comes from God the Father. Indeed, the incarnate Son himself, the Prince of peace, reconciled all men to God through his cross (...), put hatred to death in his own flesh and, after the triumph of his resurrection, breathed the Spirit of love into the hearts of men". The peace of the Lord transcends completely the peace of the world, which can be superficial and apparent, perhaps the result of selfishness and compatible with injustice.
Christ is our peace and our joy; sin, on the contrary, sows loneliness, restlessness and sadness in the soul. The Christian's peace, so necessary for the apostolate and for living together, is interior order, knowledge of one's own miseries and virtues, respect for others and complete trust in the Lord, who never leaves us. It is a consequence of humility, of divine filiation and of the struggle against one's own passions, always ready to disorder.
Peace is lost through sin, pride and lack of sincerity with oneself and with God. Peace is also lost through impatience: when one does not know how to see the provident hand of God in difficulties and setbacks.
Sincere confession of our sins is one of the principal means placed by God to recover the peace lost by sin or by the lack of correspondence to grace. "Peace with God, the effect of justification and turning away from sin; peace with our neighbor, the fruit of charity spread by the Holy Spirit; and peace with ourselves, the peace of conscience, coming from the victory over the passions and over evil". To recover peace, if we have lost it, is one of the best signs of charity for those around us, and also the first task to prepare in our hearts for the coming of the Child God.
Hablar con Dios