Pope: Jesus' peace is real and not the world’s
anesthetized peace
(Vatican Radio) True peace is not man-made but a gift of the
Holy Spirit. "A peace without a cross is not the peace of
Jesus" for it is only the Lord who can give us peace amidst
tribulations. This was the central message of the homily of Pope Francis
at Mass, Tuesday morning, in the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta residence in
the Vatican.
Developing his homily on the words of Jesus at the Supper in
John’s Gospel, "I leave you peace, my peace I give you,” the Holy Father
focused on the meaning of the peace given by the Lord. The day’s reading
from the Acts of the Apostles, he noted, speaks of the many tribulations that
Paul and Barnabas experienced in their journeys to proclaim the Gospel.
"Is this the peace that Jesus gives us?" the Pope asked, and
immediately answered saying Jesus emphasizes that the peace He gives is not the
one given by the world.
The world wants anesthetized peace to prevent us from
seeing the Cross
"The peace that the world offers us," the Pope
said, "is a peace without tribulations. It offers us an artificial peace
"reduced to "tranquility". It is a peace "that is
only concerned about one’s affairs and one’s security, lacking in nothing,” a
bit like the peace of the rich Dives in the parable of Lazarus, a tranquility
that “shuts” oneself without seeing "beyond":
"The world teaches us the way to anesthetized peace:
it anesthetizes us from seeing another reality of life: the Cross. This
is why Paul says that one must enter into the Kingdom of Heaven on the road
with many tribulations. But is it possible to obtain peace amidst tribulation?
From our side, no; we are unable to make peace that is tranquility, a
psychological peace, our peace, because tribulations are there, whether pain,
illness or death. But the peace that Jesus gives is a gift: it is a gift
of the Holy Spirit; and this peace lasts through tribulations and beyond.
It's not a sort of stoicism of the ‘fakir’. No. it’s something
else.”
God's peace cannot be bought, without Cross is not real
peace
According to Pope Francis, God's peace is “a gift that keeps
us going." After granting peace to His disciples, Jesus suffers in the
Garden of Olives and there "He offers everything to the will of the Father
and suffers, but He does not lack God’s consolation". In fact, the
Gospel, says that "an angel appeared to him from heaven to console
him":
"God's peace is real peace, that enters the reality
of life, that does not deny life; that is life. There is suffering, there are
the sick people, there are many bad things, there are wars ... but that peace
within, which is a gift, is not lost, but goes ahead bearing the Cross and
suffering. Peace without the Cross is not the peace of Jesus: it is a
peace that can be bought, that can make. But it does not last; it comes to an
end. "
Let’s ask for the grace of inner peace, a gift of the
Holy Spirit
When I get angry, the Pope said, "I lose peace."
When my heart is "troubled," "it is because I am not open to the
peace of Jesus,” because I am unable to "bear life as it comes, with its
crosses and sorrows that accompany it.” Rather, we must be able to ask
for the grace to ask the Lord for his peace:
"'We must enter the Kingdom of God through many
tribulations'. The grace of peace – of not losing that inner peace. Regarding
this a saint said, 'The life of the Christian is a journey between the
persecutions of the world and the consolations of God' (St. Augustine). May the
Lord make us understand well what this peace is which He gives us with the Holy
Spirit. "
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