The Path of Harmony and Peace

By Fr. Jerry Pokorsky ( bio - articles - email ) | Jul 22, 2024

“Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity.” (Ps. 133) Every organization—from families to businesses, national organizations, and churches—makes calls for unity and peace. Our emotions range from joy to despair in our quest for peace. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, reveals the path. We have no magic wands, only the sacrificial love of the Cross.

But bickering, various forms of dysfunction, misunderstanding, illness, hatred, and competing ideologies threaten families and organizations. Mothers are usually the first to call for healing and unity. Church leaders and politicians follow in line. Unity in God’s love may bring communal peace, but it always brings peace of soul.

Unity in truth (not ideology)

Truth forms the foundation of peace. Jesus consecrates us in His truth and prays for unity in Him: “For their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be consecrated in truth… The glory which thou hast given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and thou in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them even as thou hast loved me.” (Jn. 17:19-23)

Unity in forgiveness and tolerance (not indifference or cowardly surrender)

The willingness to forgive our enemies is an essential component of unity in families, communities, and communities of nations. Our unity in Him comes to perfection through the spirit of righteous long-suffering and forgiveness: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven…You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Mt. 5:43-45)

Unity in justice (not raw power)

In his City of God, St. Augustine defines peace as the tranquility of order. The fathers of Vatican II wrote: “Peace is not merely the absence of war; nor can it be reduced solely to the maintenance of a balance of power between enemies; nor is it brought about by dictatorship. Instead, it is rightly and appropriately called an enterprise of justice.” (Gaudium et Spes 78)

The sword of division

Frequently, ideologies, indifference to evil, moral cowardice, and raw power enforcing injustice bring the unity of servile compliance but not the peace of Jesus. Although awareness of our sinfulness and past sins may increase our empathy for the failures of others, we often allow the memories to paralyze us. God’s law, His Commandments, and our response in conscience form the essential foundation of unity and peace.

In the classic Man for All Seasons, Thomas More refuses to violate his conscience by signing King Henry VIII’s villainous Act of Supremacy. The Duke of Norfolk is puzzled by the refusal. Why disrupt the process of unity in the community? Norfolk asks Thomas: “Look at these names. Why can’t you do as I did, and come with us, for fellowship?” Thomas responds: “And when we die, and you are sent to heaven for doing your conscience, and I am sent to hell for not doing mine, will you come with me, for fellowship?”

Absent God’s law, Jesus brings a sword of division: “Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s foes will be those of his own household.” (Mt. 10:34-36)

The cross brings peace

Jesus teaches the paradox of the Cross: “He who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Mt.10:38-39)

We need not be ashamed of God’s many gifts of life comforts. However, excessive comforts and sloth bring complacency, cowardice, frustration, pettiness, and even despair during inevitable struggles and conflicts. Authentic peace requires vigilance and sacrificial love.

God’s grace perfects our actions

St. Benedict offers a practical technique in remaining vigilant and avoiding pettiness that undermines our love. He writes: “Whenever you begin any good work you should first of all make a most pressing appeal to Christ our Lord to bring it to perfection; that he, who has honored us by counting us among his children, may never be grieved by our evil deeds.”

Allow the prayer to strip pettiness from your daily annoyances and burdens:

• What are your tasks this week?
• Are you feeding the kids?
• Are you changing the diapers?
• Are you caring for a sick person when you have other pressing duties?

What are your annoyances? List them. Identify them with precision. Consider the justice of your every choice. (The jarring unintelligibility of praying to bring evil plans to “perfection” may have a sobering effect and bring repentance.)

Pray: “Lord, I look forward to or despise this duty. Regardless, please give me the grace to bring this good work to perfection.” Before receiving Communion: “Please, God, help me bring my reception of Jesus in Holy Communion to perfection and teach me to love.”

“Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” (1 Cor. 10:31)

The Blessed Eucharist is the Sacrament of unity and peace.

The Eucharist is the unbreakable bond of God’s love to receptive hearts, the new and everlasting Covenant, the Sacrament of unity, and the source and summit of the Catholic faith. “For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom. 8:38)

Peace.