"Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called children of God."At first glance, this beatitude seems rather paradoxical in stating peacemakers will be called "children. "It would appear more logical to state that it takes great maturity to bring about peace.
A second seemingly paradoxical statement is that we should be peacemakers in order to be called "children of god. "After all, we were told in the Gospels and in our catechism classes that we are already adopted children of God through Baptism and faith in Jesus Christ. Do we have to be peacemakers too? What do peacemakers and children have to do with each other? What does it mean to be both Peacemakers AND children of God?
We have to reconcile these paradoxes with the fact that one of our main concerns as children of god is to promote peace in the world, at least in and around our own world we live in. Vatican II helped the Church (the children of god) by waking us up to this responsibility by encouraging social involvement and developing Peace & Justice commissions within Dioceses. And, since justice has a lot to do with promoting peace, I feel the virtue of justice is needed for the peacemakers of this beatitude.
First, let us study the meaning and responsibility of being a "child of god. "Jesus was the first man to openly proclaim to be the son of god. The people of His day thought this was blasphemy. But Jesus' whole life was a calling to us to be His brothers and sisters, sons and daughters of the Father, co-heirs to eternal life with Him in the Father's bosom.
As a child of god, Jesus was bound to do the will of the Father, to be about His Father's business proclaiming the Kingdom of god within and peace to all men of good will. As peacemaker, Jesus was sent by the father to reconcile us through His death and resurrection, to teach us forgiveness of sins, and bring our souls into harmony through the Holy Spirit.
In order for us to follow Christ's example, we must do no less than He in reconciling ourselves to the Father, accepting forgiveness and leaving guilt behind and allowing the Holy Spirit to move freely through us. Now we too, like Jesus, are children of God.
How does the virtue of justice help us in these pursuits? Justice, by its very essence, is meant to bring balance, reconciliation, recompense, and peace between conflicting principles. Before Jesus' time, it was "eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth. "But Jesus brought us a new perspective, one of loving the sinner and forgiving the sin, not judging unless you be judged, and even turning the other cheek. It was too difficult for the people of Jesus' time to accept such a teaching, except from One Who would be ready to lay down His life to prove it.
As early as 1327, the position of Justice of the Peace was developed to conserve peace in various districts of England and this system followed over into the new world and even to this day in rural areas. Since Vatican II, we have become more aware of the injustice in other countries and many are called upon to become peacemakers through involvement in social causes, missions, or groups like the Peace Corps. Still, others are called to help behind the scenes by a life of prayer.
Now that we have realized how the children of god have the responsibility of being peacemakers, and decided that the virtue of justice is needed, we are face with another paradox. How can we, who are allegedly called to be prayerful and contemplative, be involved in something as social and active as peace and justice? Before we discuss this role of peacemaker and how we can be true children of God and yet be true to our contemplative calling, let us hear one quote from St. Teresa on this subject: "Serve Our Lord in ways within our powers. Apart from praying for people, by which you can do a great deal for them, do not try to help everybody. Limit yourself to your own companions...By your doing things which you really can do, His Majesty will know that you would like to do many, and He will reward you exactly as if you had won many souls for Him."
Being a contemplative (Secular Carmelite) does permit us the best of both worlds, the active and the contemplative. We can be active in our family and community in promoting peace and reconciliation wherever possible, and yet we join in the prayer of the church morning and evening and meditate on god's mysteries each day. Through an enlightened and sacred sense of justice, we can recognize the proper time for action and when prayer is the best course to take. It is through our prayer and meditations that we can contemplate and evaluate a situation, allow the Word of God to speak to us concerning it, and understand the will of God to be done.
The will of god is always justice and through our intimate conversations with Our Lord, we will surely develop the true sense of justice which is His will. Only then can we be sure that any action we take will be of benefit to the ones served and, therefore, bring peace.
Peacemakers do not necessarily have to be involved in social justice activities such as marches, sit-ins, card-burning, or foreign service. These can be good and may serve a purpose, but what about the injustices close to home, in our own families, our parish communities, or our place of employment. Peace and justice in these areas may require understanding in eliminating bias and prejudices, or helping to reconcile family members, or even resisting the desire to put our own rights or demands above others when it is not for the common god of the whole.
If demanding my own rights causes injustice and lack of peace to those around me, then what have I gained? But if I put self-righteousness aside to bring peace through justice for another, I will find there is deeper and more lasting peace within. This is not to say that we should permit injustices to be committed against us, but that we weigh and balance the good of all concerned and pray that the scales of beatitude are not left wanting. St. John of the Cross says in his Minor Works: "Blessed is he who, setting aside his own liking and inclination, considers things according to reason and justice before doing them."
So let us now turn to our Carmelite Saints and contemporary contemplatives for their views of peace and justice. First we will take an excerpt form St. Therese of Lisieux and "Her Last Conversations." She learned to cope with little injustices that even occur in the religious life. Her "Little Way" of handling the situation and maintaining peace in he community and within herself was silence. This quote was mad in April, 1897, while she was in charge of the formation of the novices: "When we're misunderstood and judged unfavorably, what good does it do to defend or explain ourselves? Let the matter drop and say nothing. It's so much better to say nothing and allow others to judge as they please? We don't see in the Gospel where Mary explained herself when her sister (Martha) accused her of remaining at Jesus' feet, doing nothing!...O blessed silence that gives so much peace to souls!"
On the other hand, her predecessor, St. Teresa of Avila, did not feel silence was in the best interest of peace and justice. However, her outspoken opinions were always cloaked in humble directive and tactful reprimands. Even the Lord was not spared her opinions.
The particular quote I chose form her works, however, deals with god as Father in Chapter 27, the "Way of Perfection:" "...how is it that you give us in the name of Your Father everything that can be given? For you desire that He consider us His children, because your word cannot fail...He has to console us in our trials. He has to sustain us in the way a father like this must...And after all this He must make us sharers and heirs with You." As for justice, we are certainly not deserving to be called, along with Jesus, as children and heirs, but His love for us goes beyond our childishness to our very need to be Fathered. And the peace our Father gives us is not like the world gives, but an inner confidence that brings strength to be His peacemakers in return.
Perhaps Thomas Merton, our contemporary contemplative, speaks more of what peace and justice means for us as Carmelites today. In his "New seeds of Contemplation," Chapter 16, he said: "To some men peace merely means the liberty to exploit other people without fear of retaliation or interference. To others peace means freedom to rob others without interruption. To still others it means the leisure to devour the goods of the earth without being compelled to feed those whom their feed is starving. And to practically everybody peace simply means the absence of any physical violence...So instead of loving what you think is peace, love other men and love god above all. If you love peace, then hate injustice, hates tyranny, hate greed, but hate these things in yourself, not in another."
So, we can see that as contemplatives called to prayer and contemplation our responsibility for peace and justice begins first within ourselves, searching for the rooting out our own sins against justice. Then, with the light of the Holy Spirit, to work within our family and community. Our "missions" as St Therese, the "Little Flower," showed us is to pray, pray without ceasing. In our prayer, we become children asking the Father for His peace throughout the land. And what two or more ask for together, in Jesus' name, will be given to us.
- Excerpted in part from the writings of St. Patricia of Mary Magdalene
