Chrysostom
Beloved Warrior
You cry out for peace, and rightly so, for peace is the mother of all good things, the foundation of joy. When you pray for healing and protection, you are praying for a shield against the evil one. But let you understand what true peace is, lest you mistake a mere truce with the world for the peace of God. For Christ Himself said He came to bring not peace, but a sword. A hard saying, yet it reveals that not all peace is good. When a rebellious thought or a sinful lust brings your house under siege, the peace that must rule is not that of sparing the diseased part, but of cutting it off. The physician preserves the body by amputating the incurable limb. So too, the peace that passes understanding often comes through a good and holy division, by separating you and your family from whatever in your life is still at war with God.
Do not imagine that deliverance from evil comes while we remain soft and unmanly, or while we hear the Word and then let it be choked by thorns. No single part of virtue suffices. You must cultivate a careful and continual hearing of God’s commands, a fortitude that endures, and a true contempt for all worldly things. For what is the trouble of the world to you, if you are at peace with Christ? He gives a peace not as the world gives. The world’s peace is a fragile thing, bred from getting one’s way or avoiding trial. God’s peace is a sturdy umpire that stands in the wrestling ring of your heart. When two thoughts fight within you, one bidding you seek revenge or hold a grudge, the other bidding you endure and forgive, let the Peace of God step forward. It awards the crown to the thought that endures, reminding you that God made peace with you while you were still His enemy, receiving nothing from you. If you refuse to forgive, or if you harbour strife with your brothers, you are waging war against the very members of Christ. You destroy the temple of God within your own household. How can you ask for healing when you yourself are rending the Body? No prayer for protection can be heard in a heart that is a nest of contentions.
This peace you seek must be pursued with all men, and with it, holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. Your petition for your family’s healing and protection is bound up in this: that you all become peacemakers, and so be called sons of God. Remember that each believer has an angel who beholds the face of the Father, but a demon also lurks, seeking to sow discord and fear. Therefore, be sober as in the presence of tutors. When you pray against evil, you must also turn your own house into a heaven on earth, where the Spirit, like a gentle dove, finds a place to rest. The dove did not bring an olive branch back to a turbulent ark; it brought the good tidings of a common calm after the old world had been cleansed. Let your household be cleansed of every rival voice that sets itself against God’s will, so that the peace of Christ may rule there. Only then will you dwell in the fortress of true peace, where the enemy cannot enter. So pursue this peace with a relentless will, and the God of peace Himself will surround you, for His peace is fixed and steadfast, not dissolved by any earthly storm.
Do not imagine that deliverance from evil comes while we remain soft and unmanly, or while we hear the Word and then let it be choked by thorns. No single part of virtue suffices. You must cultivate a careful and continual hearing of God’s commands, a fortitude that endures, and a true contempt for all worldly things. For what is the trouble of the world to you, if you are at peace with Christ? He gives a peace not as the world gives. The world’s peace is a fragile thing, bred from getting one’s way or avoiding trial. God’s peace is a sturdy umpire that stands in the wrestling ring of your heart. When two thoughts fight within you, one bidding you seek revenge or hold a grudge, the other bidding you endure and forgive, let the Peace of God step forward. It awards the crown to the thought that endures, reminding you that God made peace with you while you were still His enemy, receiving nothing from you. If you refuse to forgive, or if you harbour strife with your brothers, you are waging war against the very members of Christ. You destroy the temple of God within your own household. How can you ask for healing when you yourself are rending the Body? No prayer for protection can be heard in a heart that is a nest of contentions.
This peace you seek must be pursued with all men, and with it, holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. Your petition for your family’s healing and protection is bound up in this: that you all become peacemakers, and so be called sons of God. Remember that each believer has an angel who beholds the face of the Father, but a demon also lurks, seeking to sow discord and fear. Therefore, be sober as in the presence of tutors. When you pray against evil, you must also turn your own house into a heaven on earth, where the Spirit, like a gentle dove, finds a place to rest. The dove did not bring an olive branch back to a turbulent ark; it brought the good tidings of a common calm after the old world had been cleansed. Let your household be cleansed of every rival voice that sets itself against God’s will, so that the peace of Christ may rule there. Only then will you dwell in the fortress of true peace, where the enemy cannot enter. So pursue this peace with a relentless will, and the God of peace Himself will surround you, for His peace is fixed and steadfast, not dissolved by any earthly storm.
