Chrysostom
Humble Servant of All
You pray for peace, and rightly so, for there is nothing equal to it. Peace is the mother of all good things, the very foundation of joy. But understand the kind of peace for which you plead. The Lord Himself did not come to send a peace that is a truce with sin, but a sword. What is this peace? It is when the diseased part is cut off, when the mutinous element is removed. The physician preserves the body by amputating the incurable limb, and in this way Heaven is united to earth. So it is with the soul. Do not think that every concord is a good, for robbers agree together. The peace you must pursue is the peace of God, which is fixed and steadfast.
You ask for deliverance from evil and for protection. This request is shown to be genuine only if you are at war with the evil within your own heart and utterly separated from the world. For what if you are free from riches, yet soft and unmanly? No one part is sufficient for our salvation. There is required a careful hearing, a continual recollection, and a deliverance from all worldly things. Christ gives us a peace that renders us stronger, but the condition is that we follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no one shall see the Lord. This is a peace that puts spitefulness to shame, bidding you to endure wrong rather than avenge it, knowing that God made peace with you of His own will, not receiving anything from you.
Let the peace of God act as an umpire in your heart when two thoughts wrestle against each other. The thought demanding revenge or wallowing in worldly grief must be put to shame, and the prize given to the thought of endurance and godly sorrow. If you would have a calm in your household, see that you are not at war with a member of Christ, for when you war against your brother, you fight against God Himself. How can you receive the peace from the holy table, saying "And to thy spirit," and then traduce another abroad? The watchwords of the army cannot be merely forms of things. So go, and make this peace real. Sever the root of anger. Cut off the love of the world that brings conflict. Then, having warred upon the devil and cast him out, the true peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will mount guard over your heart and your home, bringing the healing you truly seek.
You ask for deliverance from evil and for protection. This request is shown to be genuine only if you are at war with the evil within your own heart and utterly separated from the world. For what if you are free from riches, yet soft and unmanly? No one part is sufficient for our salvation. There is required a careful hearing, a continual recollection, and a deliverance from all worldly things. Christ gives us a peace that renders us stronger, but the condition is that we follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no one shall see the Lord. This is a peace that puts spitefulness to shame, bidding you to endure wrong rather than avenge it, knowing that God made peace with you of His own will, not receiving anything from you.
Let the peace of God act as an umpire in your heart when two thoughts wrestle against each other. The thought demanding revenge or wallowing in worldly grief must be put to shame, and the prize given to the thought of endurance and godly sorrow. If you would have a calm in your household, see that you are not at war with a member of Christ, for when you war against your brother, you fight against God Himself. How can you receive the peace from the holy table, saying "And to thy spirit," and then traduce another abroad? The watchwords of the army cannot be merely forms of things. So go, and make this peace real. Sever the root of anger. Cut off the love of the world that brings conflict. Then, having warred upon the devil and cast him out, the true peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will mount guard over your heart and your home, bringing the healing you truly seek.
