In today’s Gospel Jesus’ words may seem unsettling: “Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, not peace but division.” At face value, these words seem to contradict the life and words of Jesus, who came to gather the nations to Himself. So, are these words of Jesus a contradiction? Absolutely not! All the statements of Jesus are profoundly true. We must realize that Jesus and only Jesus is the One who gives us peace, and He calls us to live this peace. But be careful, the peace that Christ brings is best seen in context of our battle against evil itself. This battle is the very reason that Jesus tells us that He came into the world to bring division instead of peace. This division is in the ranks of evil, the unrest is the uprooting of the devil’s power. Many times, we think that peace is an absence of war, or a period of tranquility; yet, this is not true in the spiritual sense. The devil always fights. In the words of St. Peter: “your enemy, the devil, is a roaring lion that goes around looking for someone to devour.” We must fight against evil if we want peace. The peace that Jesus brings us is the fruit of a victory in this battle against evil. We must resist the temptations of evil and find in Christ the peace that this world cannot give us!
Sincerely Yours in Christ,
Fr. Wayne