Peace

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” -Matthew 5:9

Peace is such an amazing thing, it is something that cannot be easily grasped yet it is known and longed for by all. Peace is having inner contentment without materiality, meaning that we don’t need things such as iPods, iPhones, the best types of clothes, a nice car, and the coolest sunglasses out there to make ourselves content. This inner contentment can come from our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ alone, “For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation” (Ephesians 2:14).

Our sins caused us to come out of communion from God and made the above mentioned middle wall of separation. Through Jesus’ death on the Cross and Resurrection that middle wall was broken down and it caused the New Testament to begin. The New Testament began on that day, and the Old was completed. This has caused us, Mankind, to come back into communion with God in peace, and through faith we are saved.

An interesting note is that St. Paul the Apostle contrasts confusion and peace, making the two a sort of opposites, saying, “For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints” (1 Corinthians 14:33). If we look back at the origin of confusion we will end up in the Tower of Babel, in Genesis 11. Mankind had united, but for the wrong reasons, so God confused their languages to make a barrier between them in differences of thought so that they would never be able to reunite again unless it was part of His plan, and we see that happening on the Birthday of the Church, on Pentecost when the Apostles spoke in different types of tongues. God united Mankind because they now followed Him, and all the nations were united once again in Christianity.

Peace is also a fruit of the spirit, as mentioned in Galatians 5:22. So if we spend our time in prayer, praise, reading and studying the Bible, and focusing on God, we will have peace, because that is how the order of godliness goes. This peace is immaterial meaning that it isn’t influenced by material things. The Fathers wrote on peace, but most interestingly the Russian Fathers spoke about peace in a very deep way. They said that if one had inner peace, this peace, that he would be able to convert thousands around him just by being near them. Because peace is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, it is also a sign that the Holy Spirit is cooperating with us. So it is for this reason that one who has inner peace is able to convert thousands, because the Holy Spirit is with him, and aside from the Holy Spirit we can do nothing.

Peace is one of God’s attributes. There was peace before the Creation and afterward also. It was how life was and it was the only thing the Creation knew. Even the most vicious of animals were in peace with the animals they hunt today and this original vision will be restored at the end of the world as it says, “‘The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,’ says the LORD” (Isaiah 65:25). It was only after the fall of man that disorder and malice began to enter into the Creation, but as the above verse assures us that the Creation will go back into its original vision, another verse makes it even clearer, “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4).

So we should be comforted, knowing that these things will pass away, and the Creation’s ultimate purpose will be fulfilled on the Last Day. We are in the last days, ever since the Church was born, and our Lord Jesus Christ comforted us saying, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you” (John 14:27). We should always remind ourselves that He is coming, and we will have to give to Him an account of everything we have done on the Judgment Day. Knowing this fact we should have peace, and get rid of all our trivial worries and fears, so that they may not keep us from Him. And also the fact that we will have peace will cause us to be conformed even more to God’s image, because peace is an attribute of God.

Today in this world, especially in this country, life moves very fast. They consider that to be a good thing, but it isn’t. Because life moves so quickly today, we can easily get carried away from the faith, and start to slack concerning things such as prayer and Bible reading. H.G. Bishop Youssef, the Coptic Bishop of the Southern United States, used the analogy of a body of water, and how when the water is peaceful we can see our image in it. The same is true with God, He wants to see His image in us, but if we have no peace (if the water is moving too quickly), He will not be able to see His image in us. And if we are conformed to His image, then the promise of us becoming His children is fulfilled. This might be what was meant by our Lord Jesus Christ when He said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:9).

Let us ask God to give us the virtue of peace, and that we would continually be conformed to His image. And glory be to God both now and ever and unto the age of all ages. Amen.