The Evangelical Pope | Peace – the Way, the Truth, the Life

Ieper (Ypres) Market Square, Belgium

Each week we let Saint Pope John Paul II share meaningful signposts to spark socio-economic resolves through justice and righteousness combined with mercy and compassion; in short, love.

               ²⁷ Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not be afraid.

               __ John 14:27 (New International Version)

Ieper, Belgium – 17 May 1985 | Peace is no longer an issue that can be addressed rhetorically using convenient, one-sided slogans. Deep convictions and total commitment are needed, and superficial sentimentalism will not suffice.

Clear insights must accompany a determined desire for peace, and that task is only sometimes easy when faced with so many different interests. A clear understanding of the principles and values ​​ must accompany a commitment to peace. The greater the threat hanging over humanity, the more powerful its moral maturity must be.

It would be dangerous to settle for a minimum. Peace should, therefore, not be understood as the absence of war but as a set of indissoluble values:

• The freedom of the human person and respect for his dignity.
• Justice and solidarity.
• Mercy and charity.
• The courage of the truth.
• And hope.

Human progress that cultivates authentic values can only avert the dangers and threats to peace, not by denying those same values.

The Lord’s peace will not enter our hearts if we are silent.

               How can anyone find and establish peace if God does not give it to him? How can man live in peace without seeking and accepting it from God? In the mystery of God is the abundance of grace, mercy, and reconciliation.

               “Peace be with you. Peace be to this house”. According to the will of the Lord, this is the fraternal greeting of the Christian: peace to all people, peace to every home, peace to the whole world!

…

In our Christian greetings, we wish each other peace. But a greeting in itself is not enough. We must be willing to accept that peace from others and create it in our hearts, despite our shortcomings, and among the inhabitants of our country. We must be prepared to work for peace in the world. Therefore, according to Saint John, we must open our hearts to the word of the Lord, which we have just listened to in the Gospel. We can never hear enough of it: “My peace I give to you, my peace I leave with you; not as the world gives do I give to you” (John 14: 27).

…

We can only find His peace, the actual peace, if we follow Him who is: the way, the truth, and the life.

Excerpted from:

VISITA PASTORALE NEI PAESI BASSI

SOLENNE CELEBRAZIONE A IEPER, OMELIA DI GIOVANNI PAOLO II, Venerdì, 17 maggio 1985

https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/nl/homilies/1985/documents/hf_jp-ii_hom_19850517_ieper.html