Vigils Reading

NOT AS THE WORLD GIVES PEACE

From a homily by St Oscar Romero3

…Justice is not enough; love also is necessary… We have said that the power of the Christian is love, and we repeat it: the power of the church is love.

Love enables us to feel that we are sisters and brothers to one and all… As long as we do not reach that strength of love, we cannot be true peacemakers. Those whose hearts are filled with resentment, violence, and hatred cannot be forgers of peace. We have to know how to love like Jesus, who loved even those who crucified him: “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do… If they knew you, they would love you… Give them love also, Lord.” How much good the powerful would do if they truly loved and were not selfish and envious! How beautiful the world would be… if we all were to expand this power of love!

Here the Second Vatican Council was careful to define two kinds of peace, and we should pay close attention to this. One kind of peace is that which Christ reserved for his closest friends, those who understood the redemption and the need to root out sin from themselves. As long as there is sin in the heart, there can be no truly divine peace, such as the peace Christ achieved when he reconciled us with the Father by dying on the cross and bearing the sins of all of us in his body. For us Christians and Catholics, this is the culmination of peace: peace in the grace of God, the peace of those who have left sin and controlled their passions, the peace of holy souls. This is the peace that Christ spoke of: “I leave you peace; my peace I give to you, not as the world gives peace.”

Here we distinguish another kind of peace, the peace that the church shares with the world, the peace that non-Christians can also possess, the peace of people of good will that we sing about in the Gloria of the Mass… Here is meant this other peace, the peace that proceeds from natural love. It is the peace of those who, even though they do not know God, are able to discover the intense power of being in solidarity with those who suffer. It is the peace that enables people to bring a little comfort to the grief-stricken and to denounce injustices… This is the peace that all people can possess…

The problem of peace is immense, and it needs many peacemakers: priests, men and women religious, laity… the call goes out to all… Let each one of us, according to our means, nurture this vocation to become instruments of peace… Those whose hearts feel the need for God, those who find the joy of life in the cross and sacrifice, those who have learned the true secret of peace in the crucified One. This secret consists of loving God to the extreme of letting oneself be killed for him and of loving one’s neighbors to the point of being crucified for them. This is the love of the modern redeemers, the love of Christ, this love that endures forever. Let us promise this to the Lord while we proceed to proclaim our faith in him