XXIX — BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS

Presence of God. — O Holy Spirit, help me establish my heart in peace.

Meditation

1 — The soul that, under influence of gift of wisdom, has tasted God looks at world with eyes filled by Him and thus becomes capable of judging all things secundum rationes divinas (II-II, q. 45, a. 3), according to divine reasons, according to supernatural motives, and not according to short human reasons.

These are true “wise” judgments, which we could never reach without aid of Holy Spirit. In fact, “the sensual man [man of senses and pure reason] perceives not things that are of Spirit of God, for it is foolishness to him ... but the spiritual man [man of faith guided by Holy Spirit] judges all things” (1 Cor. 2:14-15).

He judges all in relation to supreme Cause, God, and therefore directs all his acts and orders all things of life in relation to Him. From this order — only true order — peace is born, fruit of wise direction of gift of wisdom. Therefore man habitually living under influence of this gift is peacemaker par excellence. His heart is established in peace. In it there is no more disorder; every affection and desire, every thought and act is fully ordered according to God, that is, fully subject and conformed to his law, his will, his good pleasure.

Possessing peace, he becomes sower of peace. Peacemaker, in etymological sense, is precisely one who places peace, cultivates peace, and spreads it around himself. This is why to gift of wisdom corresponds beatitude of peace: “Blessed are the peacemakers.”

Only one living under influence of this gift can truly judge and order all in relation to God, and thus nothing, not even suffering, can disturb interior peace, because he knows even most painful events are permitted and directed by God for good of his chosen: “to them that love God, all things work together unto good” (Rom. 8:28).

Thus gift of wisdom gives note of sweetness not only to prayer but also to practical life. “Under influence of this gift,” says St. Thomas, “bitterness is changed into sweetness, labor into rest” (II-II, q. 45, a. 3).

2 — Gift of wisdom leads us to peace: interior peace of soul that, having tasted God, gives itself to Him without reserve, totally surrendered to his divine will; serene peace of one who, seeing God in all, accepts without disturbance adversities of life, adoring in them divine dispositions; and also social peace of one who, considering men in relation to God as creatures and his children, loves all and wants to live in peace with all.

The more perfect this peace is, the more it leads us to taste reward promised by Jesus: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God” (Mt. 5:9).

All Christians are children of God by grace, but here it is a particular reward, we can say an overflow of grace of adoption. Here something experiential is involved, by which soul not only knows but feels and tastes being child of God. It is savory sense of divine sonship born in soul under influence of gift of wisdom. “The Spirit Himself gives testimony to our spirit that we are sons of God” (Rom. 8:16). This assertion of St. Paul becomes living reality and delightful experience.

Soul feels itself called child of God not by men but by God Himself. No sensible voice speaks to it, but the more it feels drawn by God and tastes Him in intimate union, the more it feels He is its Father and it, little creature, is his child.

Our God is God of peace. Therefore it is fitting that peacemaker, one who possesses and diffuses peace, should feel in wholly particular way his child. If men generally feel so little children of God, it is also because they are so little peaceful: readier for quarrels, struggles, wars than for peace. People speak of peace, but do not make peace, because man does not let himself be guided by Spirit of wisdom and wants instead to guide himself by his own folly; thus he is dominated by pride, interest, greed, lives in disorder, and sows disorder.

The more our soul is established in peace and the more we are messengers of peace, the more Holy Spirit will infuse in our souls this delightful sense of our divine sonship, and this will become for us motive of immense beatitude, true prelude of eternal beatitude.

Colloquy

“Grant us, O Spirit, your wisdom, that it may teach us to conduct and reconduct all things to You, from whom they proceeded. Oh, if we truly returned to You as we came forth from You, like rivers returning to sea from which they had origin! Oh, if we made this complete return to You, we would be in perpetual happiness and perpetual peace!

“Your wisdom is perfection that orders all things always looking to You who are their end. It considers past, looks at present, and regards future always in relation to You. From this peace in our heart is born, sweet fruit of wisdom. Whoever possesses this peace is always quiet: quiet in past things, quiet in present, peaceful in foreseeing future, because he knows all is permitted and disposed by your supreme Goodness.

“O eternal Father, give us light to know this peace, cause of so many goods and without which one falls into so many faults and evils!

“Oh, why can I not communicate this holy peace to every creature? Oh, if I were what I should be, I could spread it everywhere! Give me, O Lord, your peace: peace of heart living united to You, because by myself I can have no good, and without You I can have no peace” (cf. St. Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi).

“O most benign Jesus, grant me that above every desirable thing I may rest in You and that my heart may find quiet only in You. You are true peace of heart, its only refuge, while outside You there is only labor and unrest. In this peace then, that is, in You, supreme and eternal Good, I shall have quiet and rest” (Imitation III, 15, 4).