“Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the Children of
God.’ The followers of Jesus have been called to peace. When he called them they found their peace, for he is their peace. But now they are told that they must not only have peace but make it. And to that end they renounce all violence and tumult. In the cause of Christ nothing is to be gained by such methods. His kingdom is one of peace, and the mutual greeting of his flock is a greeting of peace. His disciples keep the peace by choosing to endure suffering themselves rather than inflict it on others. They maintain fellowship where others would break it off. They renounce all self-assertion, and quietly suffer in the face of hatred and wrong. In so doing they overcome evil with good, and establish the peace of God in the midst of a world of war and hate. But nowhere will that peace be more manifest than where they meet the wicked in peace and are ready to suffer at their hands. The peacemakers will carry the cross with their Lord, for it was on the cross that peace was made. Now that they are partners in Christ’s work of reconciliation, they are called the sons of God as he is the Son of God.”
~ from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s The Cost of Discipleship, p. 126.
PRAYER
Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace: where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy.”
O, Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
it is in dying that we are born again to eternal life.
Amen.
~ St. Francis of Assisi, “Christ Our Life.” Peace Prayer of Saint Francis,
http://www.loyolapress.com/our-catholic-faith/prayer/traditional-catholic-
prayers/saints-prayers/peace-prayer-of-saint-francis.
Long Way Here 