Instruction for the Sunday of the Holy Fathers

He (Jesus Christ) is our peace (Eph 2:14).

A great feast is drawing near for all Christians—the feast of the Nativity of the Lord and God and Savior of us all, Jesus Christ, from the most pure, unwedded Virgin Mary; the feast of the greatest, most wondrous, and all-saving event, foretold many times by the prophets, prefigured to the people of the Old Testament through various images and likenesses. Soon the holy Church will sing with the Angels: glory in the highest to God, and on earth peace, among men good will (Lk 2:14). But where, someone may ask, are the blessings of God’s peace, of heavenly stillness on earth, when upon it, from the beginning until now, wars have never ceased, when the earth has so often been, and still is, a fearsome spectacle of slaughter and bloodshed; when human passions, both in time of war and in time of peace, again and again stir up storms and tumults, both in the masses of men and in individual human souls?

Where, then, are the blessings of the heavenly peace brought to earth by the incarnate only-begotten Son of the beginningless Father, by the gentle Light of His holy glory? Without doubt the Angels proclaim the truth. Peace has been brought and given to the earth; but since this heavenly, holy, priceless treasure requires a reliable guard, keeper, and dispenser, lest men, in the outbursts of their passions, drive it once more from the earth, the King of peace, the Lord Jesus Christ, left this peace to His Church, to the well-ordered, grace-filled society of those who believe in Him, entrusting it especially to the faithful shepherds of His flock, and through them to the Church, to grant this saving peace to all who seek it. In what, then, does the peace brought by Jesus Christ to earth consist? In this: that through His only-begotten Son, God has been reconciled with men, that the unbreakable barrier between Him and lawless men has been destroyed, the curse abolished, the handwriting of sin torn to pieces, death struck upon the head; to all who desire it, saving grace has been given, all the divine powers for life and piety have been granted (2Pet 1:2-3); to all, free access to God has been opened, to all the full possibility has been opened to receive the forgiveness of sins, to become holy, and, amid all the storms and tumults of this sinful world, to be at peace. Come to Me, all you who toil and are burdened, and I will give you rest (Mt 11:28)—that is, come to Me in faith and repentance, all you who are weary and burdened with sins, and I will take from you the burden of sin, will drive away the storm of the passions, will turn the storm into stillness—and you will learn by your own experience that I have brought peace to earth for all who desire and seek peace, on the condition of faith in Me and unfeigned repentance. My yoke is good, and My burden is easy (Mt 11:30).

And so the peace brought to earth by Jesus Christ, and sung by the heavenly Angels, is contained and kept on earth in the gracious kingdom of Christ, that is, in the Church of God; here all who sincerely believe and sincerely repent may draw it in abundance. Do you not hear how often the Church, through the person of the priest, grants peace to all who stand before her, who, in their turn, send back their good wish of peace to him as well? Oh, how blessed and how sweet is the peace of the Lord Jesus Christ, granted to the Church and to all the faithful! Truly the soul accounted worthy of the peace of God tastes a paradisal blessedness in communion with God. And who among us would not desire this peace? For sins and passions rage ruinously in the souls of sinners, torment, oppress, scorch, and tear the poor soul, so to speak, into pieces.

Come, then, sinners like myself, to Christ the Savior with faith and unfeigned repentance—and He will give you peace. I myself have many times been subjected to the ruinous, deadly rebellion of the passions, and every time, in cases without number, I have received from the Lord swift deliverance and freedom from the storm of soul, and the gracious, heavenly peace. Such is the peace that the incarnate Son of God brought to earth! The sinful world does not know and does not seek this peace, which is the forerunner of the eternal peace in the heavens. The people of this world know only an earthly, enticing, momentary peace—a peace that comes from success in gain and acquisition, from success in self-love, ambition, self-indulgence, and voluptuousness; a peace that comes from the allurement of spectacles, from the satisfaction of the feeling of vengeance, and so on and so forth. This is not the peace of God, but a fleshly, sinful, diabolical peace. It is not this peace that the Son of God brought to earth. Therefore He Himself says: peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you: not as the world gives do I give to you (Jn 14:27)—that is, I give you not the peace that the world lying in evil gives (1Jn 5:19).

And so, that all of us may soon joyfully and sincerely sing with the Angels: glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, let us be reconciled with God, with our own conscience, and with our fellow men, in unfeigned repentance; then we too shall joyfully glorify the blessings of God’s peace, even as the Angels themselves, who possess this peace. Amen.