DAILY DEVOTIONAL

Saturday, April 14, 2018

Will we ever have peace?

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. – Matthew 5:9

I am a soul prone to flashes of anger, yet still, I am a soul called to be a peacemaker. I am a soul who, at times, is boiling with righteous wrath”, yet, I am a soul who works for peace. I am a soul who enters into conflicts more than I ought, yet, I am still seeking to be a peacemaker. And in this world of war, in this culture of war, in this cauldron of conflict, the work of the peacemaker is struggle.

I have caused conflicts and I have been drawn into conflicts and I have conflicts taking place within me. But, by the Lord’s Mercy, I have living within me the Spirit of One who calms the warring seas. When my thoughts take time to sit down with Christ, He begins the conversation with the words, “Peace be with you.” Not merely four words of greeting, they are also words of counsel and reassurance. “Peace be within you. Peace be in the ambience of your soul. Peace be in the motivations in your life. Peace be in your manner. Peace be in your words and your deeds. Peace be in the embrace of your mercy.”

Of late, I find the Lord reassuring me over and over, “Yes, peacemaking is a challenging frustration. Yet, the world is in desperate need of peacemakers.”
Why does the Lord bless the peacemakers? For the world is so much at war.

Always in His Service,
Fr. Charitas de la Cruz