Monday, December 15, 2008
2Thes 3, 16-17 May the Lord give you peace at all times
(2Thes 3, 16-17) May the Lord give you peace at all times
[16] May the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you. [17] This greeting is in my own hand, Paul's. This is the sign in every letter; this is how I write.
(CCC 2305) Earthly peace is the image and fruit of the peace of Christ, the messianic "Prince of Peace" (Isa 9:5). By the blood of his Cross, "in his own person he killed the hostility" (Eph 2:16 J.B.; cf. Col 1:20-22), he reconciled men with God and made his Church the sacrament of the unity of the human race and of its union with God. "He is our peace" (Eph 2:14). He has declared: "Blessed are the peacemakers" (Mt 5:9). (CCC 2304) Respect for and development of human life require peace. Peace is not merely the absence of war, and it is not limited to maintaining a balance of powers between adversaries. Peace cannot be attained on earth without safeguarding the goods of persons, free communication among men, respect for the dignity of persons and peoples, and the assiduous practice of fraternity. Peace is "the tranquillity of order" (St. Augustine, De civ. Dei, 19, 13, 1: PL 41, 640). Peace is the work of justice and the effect of charity (Cf. Isa 32:17; cf. GS 78 §§ 1-2). (CCC 2306) Those who renounce violence and bloodshed and, in order to safeguard human rights, make use of those means of defense available to the weakest, bear witness to evangelical charity, provided they do so without harming the rights and obligations of other men and societies. They bear legitimate witness to the gravity of the physical and moral risks of recourse to violence, with all its destruction and death (Cf. GS 78 § 5).
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