236. Eighth Tuesday of Ordinary Time

Meditations no. 107 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

Peace: fruit of the spirit which Christ wants for his Work.

The presence of Christ always brings peace. He himself is called the Prince of Peace. The hymn that the angels sing at his Birth announces that he has come to bring peace among men of good will. In his public life, Jesus says: Blessed are the peacemakers. The disciples who preach in his name introduce themselves as heralds of peace. And anyone who accepts the saving message of our Lord is called a son of peace. After his Resurrection, Christ does not rebuke or reproach the Apostles for having deserted him; rather, just as he had done before, he greets them now with the words: Peace to you! It is I. Do not be afraid.

Christ’s presence in our own lives is a source of calm and lasting peace. If we are truly dedicated to God we will find that, even in the most disturbing moments, our heavenly Father is always near at hand, at our side, with unbounded affection. He imbues us with the supernatural calm we need to help us face any situation that might arise.

God grants us peace as one of the fruits of our vocation. If we are generous, peace will always fill our lives. In the Work we are very conscious of the fact that we are God’s children, and that he loves us more than all the fathers and mothers of this world put together. This gives us the firm assurance that nothing really bad can ever happen to us.

My daughters and sons, from the moment you first step inside Opus Dei - and God will bless Opus Dei by extending it throughout the whole world - you should always hear in your own hearts that cry which is engraved on my own soul: omnia in bonum! Everything is for the best. It is St Paul who gives us this doctrine of serenity, joy, peace, and divine filiation. God loves us as a father, and he is all-wise and all-powerful. Omnia in bonum! Nothing on earth can rob us of our peace, since God has planned everything for our good.

Peace and ascetical struggle.

We have given our whole life to our Father God. Inspired by our filial love, we are anxious not to refuse him anything. Everything in our life is brought together and illuminated by our sense of divine filiation. Peace governs our lives, as a consequence of the calm and order in our hearts. No difficulty, however great, can take this peace away, since if God is for us, who is against us?

And what is peace? Peace is something closely related to war. It is a consequence of victory; peace demands a continual struggle on my part Without struggle I will never have peace.

The peace that Christ offers us is not just a comfortable and selfish feeling of tranquillity, but is rather the result of sacrifice and generosity. It is not the cowardly sense of calm we might achieve by avoiding the demands of our personal struggle or running away from the challenges of our surroundings. Let’s remember that Christ says: I have come to bring a sword, not peace. And our Father comments: Few people understand that war is a necessary means to peace. First, we must wage war on ourselves; we each need to wage a personal battle against our own passions. Isn’t that your experience, your Christian struggle, which consists in overcoming yourselves and preparing to be people who serve?

If we want to attain peace, we need to be courageous in the ascetical struggle. What a taste of gall and vinegar, of ash and bitter aloes! What a dry and coated palate! And this physiological feeling seems as nothing compared with that other bad taste, the one in your soul. The fact is that “more is being asked of you” and you can’t bring yourself to give it. Humble yourself. Would that bitter taste still remain in your flesh and your spirit if you did all that you could?

With a filial spirit let us fight in our interior life, in an ascetical struggle that fills us with joy and optimism, with peace and hope. We thank God for revealing to us the basis of the gaudium cum pace, the joyful peace he desires for all his children.

We must also struggle in apostolic endeavours, so as to bring about the peace of Christ in the kingdom of Christ. We want the Cross to triumph over its enemies, so that peace may reign in the world. Our divine war is a wonderful sowing of peace, our Founder told us.

But we know that peace will have its consummation only in heaven. Earthly peace is only a beginning, a mere foreshadowing of the full and perfect peace awaiting us as a reward for winning the battle of love: the battle of personal sanctity and apostolate. As Christ promises in today’s Mass: Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. And our Father comments: Try to find anyone on earth who repays with such generosity!

Calm and joyful commitment to God’s will.

Cross, toil, anguish: such will be your lot as long as you live. That was the way Christ followed, and the disciple is not above his Master. Our encounters with suffering along the path to heaven cannot take away our peace. We have a sure means to preserve that peace: seeing God’s loving will in everything. For the sake of Christ, St Paul writes, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities.

Our Father gave us the example of his own prayer in the face of trials: May the most just and most lovable will of God be done, be fulfilled, be praised and eternally exalted above all things. Amen. Amen. By accepting God’s will, we quickly recover our peace.

If we are to produce fruits of sanctity in our work, we must therefore make our own the attitude of Christ our Lord. His only desire was to fulfil his Father’s will. Meus cibus est, ut faciam voluntatem eius qui misit me, ut perficiam opus eius. My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work.

At every step of the way, Jesus accepted the will of his Father completely. Faced with the supreme anguish, with an ignominious death, and with the horror of all the sins of mankind crushing down upon him, Jesus prayed: Father … not my will, but thine, be done. If tribulation ever comes our way, let us unite ourselves to our Lord’s prayer. He received the support and comfort of an angel from heaven. If we watch in prayer together with him, we also will be strengthened by our Guardian Angel, who will be for us an angel of peace. We pray in today’s Mass: Grant, Lord, that the world may follow your guidance in peace.

We also join our prayer to that of our Lady. Fiat, Mary tells the angel: let your message from God be accomplished. In every situation, even in the most difficult circumstances, we will abandon ourselves to the will of God, and we will kiss the Cross with which he blesses us. Our Mother will accompany us, as she accompanied Jesus on Calvary. Mary, Regina Pacis, Queen of Peace: give us peace, even in the midst of suffering.