Caput VI. De pace
The Gift of Christ's Peace
Christ entrusts his peace to the disciples as a parting gift, and those who embrace that peace are called sons of God.
As the Savior was returning to the Father, he gave the disciples, as a special gift, the precepts of peace, saying: "My peace I give you; my peace I leave you" (John✦ 14:27).✦ In peace I send you away; in peace I will find you. Setting out, he wished to give what he desired; returning, he wished to find it in all things. He shows the ornaments of this peace in another place, wonderfully, saying: "Blessed are the peacemakers, because they will be called sons of God" (Matt.✦ 5:9).✦ See: the one who has now begun to be peaceful begins to be called a Son of God. The Son of God does not want to be called such by anyone who has refused to embrace peace.
Holy Peace and Its Opposite
True peace is to be kept with the godly, not with the wicked, and it binds together brotherly harmony, love of neighbor, and the indwelling of God's Spirit.
Anyone who scorns being at peace denies God as his Father. But this peace is to be kept with good people and with those who keep God's commandments, not with the wicked and the depraved, who have peace among themselves in their sins. The peace of Christ leads to eternal salvation. The peace that is in the devil leads to everlasting destruction. Peace with the good, and war with the vices, must always be maintained. Indeed, the evil deeds of impious people are to be hated, not the people themselves, even though they are wicked, because they are creatures of God. The peace that is within us truly binds together the harmony of brothers and the love of neighbors. Peace specially earns the Spirit of God.
The Fruits and Guardians of Peace
Peace is born of love, marks holiness, brings health and joy, and calls both priest and people to their mutual duties of admonition and humble obedience.
The peace of love is its mother. Peace is the mark of holiness, about which God says through the prophet: Love peace and truth (Zach. 8, 19). The peace of the people is its health, the glory of the priest, and the joy of the homeland, and the terror of enemies whether visible or invisible. With all your strength peace is to be guarded, because it always remains in God. Whoever remains in holy peace remains with the holy ones of God. It belongs to the priest, in peace, to admonish the people of God what they ought to do; it belongs to the people, in humility, to listen to what the priest warns. Whatever is not permitted, it belongs to the pastor to forbid so that it not happen; it belongs to the people to listen, so that they not do it.
Read the original Latin
Salvator ad Patrem rediens, quasi speciale munus discipulis pacis dedit praecepta, dicens: Pacem meam do vobis, pacem relinquo vobis (Joan. XIV, 27). In pace vos dimitto, in pace vos inveniam. Proficiscens voluit dare, quae desiderabat rediens in omnibus invenire. Cujus pacis ornamenta mirabiliter alio ostendit loco, dicens: Beati pacifici, quoniam filii Dei vocabuntur (Matth. V, 9). En Filius Dei incipit vocari, qui pacificus esse jam coepit. Non vult Filius Dei dici, qui pacem noluerit amplecti.
Negat sibi Patrem Deum, qui pacificus esse contemnit. Sed haec pax cum bonis et Dei praecepta servantibus custodienda est, non cum iniquis et sceleratis, qui pacem inter se habent in peccatis suis. Pax Christi ad salutem proficit sempiternam. Pax quae in diabolo est, ad perpetuam pervenit perditionem. Pax cum bonis, et bellum cum vitiis, semper habenda est. Mala siquidem hominum impiorum odio habenda sunt, non homines ipsi, quamvis mali sunt, quia creatura Dei sunt. Pax vero, quae in nobis est, concordiam fratrum, et charitatem copulat proximorum. Pax spiritum Dei specialiter promeretur.
Pax dilectionis mater est. Pax indicium est sanctitatis, de qua Deus per prophetam ait: Pacem et veritatem diligite (Zach. VIII, 19). Pax plebis est sanitas, gloria sacerdotis, et patriae laetitia, et terror hostium sive visibilium, sive invisibilium. Omnibus viribus pax est custodienda, quia semper in Deo manet. Qui in pace sancta manet, cum sanctis Dei manet. Sacerdotis est in pace populum Dei admonere quid debeat agere: populi est in humilitate audire quae monet sacerdos. Quidquid non licet, pastoris est prohibere ne fiat: plebis est audire, ne faciat.
Scripture echoes
- ↩John.14.27 — Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
- ↩John.14.27 — Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
- ↩Matt.5.9 — Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
- ↩Matt.5.9 — Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
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