DAILY DEVOTIONAL

Sunday, June 24, 2018

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

It would be reasonable for Christ to have used instead the words, Blessed are the peaceful”, but He didn’t.  That would communicate something that could be considered rather passive.  No, Christ chose the more active word, “peacemakers“.

It is in the active making of the peace, in the active  work of reconciliation,  in the taking the initiative to begin the process of forgiveness and restoration, that we are active participants in the family business of the Lord.  We invest ourselves not in blaming, judging, condemning the world, but rather in saving this world by transforming this world.  We are then doing as Christ … the one who kept faithful to His work even the cross when He reached on behalf of the people, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”  In a certain sense, the common, worldly sense, He should have demanded retributive justice against his accusers and executioners, against the mockers and those standing by … but instead He offered an initiative of grace, an offer of restorative justice, an offer of a new beginning filled with new hope.

As a contemplative, I know well the experience of becoming peaceful and being peaceful, but I also must be mindful of the work I do as part of the family business.

In Christ’s Service Always,

Fr. Charitas de la Cruz