“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom His favor rests.” Luke 2:14
“Peace, dearest brethren, rescues man from servitude, provides him with the name of a free man, changes his identity before God together with his condition, from a servant to a son, and from a slave to a free man. Peace among brethren is the will of God, the joy of Christ, the completion of holiness, the rule of justice, the teacher of truth, the guardian of morals, and a praiseworthy discipline in every regard. Peace lends strength to our prayers; it is the way our petitions can reach God easily and be credited; it is the plenitude which fulfills our desires. Peace is the mother of love, the bond of concord, and the manifest sign of a pure soul, one which seeks to please God, which seeks to be fulfilled as has its desire rewarded… Love peace and all the world will be tranquil and quiet.”
Peter Chrysologus (406-450) in Peace as recounted Milton Walsh in Witness of the Saints: Patristic Readings in the Liturgy of the Hours (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2012) 565.
Peace appears as central to the celebration of the incarnation. Prophets described Jesus the Prince of Peace. Angels sang of him as the One who brings peace to earth. So how does this relate to generosity?
We need to love peace. if and when we do, it will strengthen us and bless all those we touch. We will bring peace to the spheres of people and settings in life where God has placed us.
We will, like Jesus with the incarnation, bring the peace to the places God sends us.
Pause to ponder. How am I bringing peace (or the opposite of peace) to my family? To my neighbors? To my community? To my world? If Jesus brought peace to earth, we can bring it to the place God has situated each of us.
Father, teach me what it means to love peace. Do this so that, by the power of your Holy Spirit, I can bring peace to those around me. In your mercy, hear my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.