LET YOUR PEACE COME UPON IT

At 11,21b-26; 13,1-3; Ps 97; Mt 10,7-13
11 JUNE
In our most holy faith it is necessary to know what comes from God directly and what instead comes from God indirectly, through the mediation of the Body of Christ, which is the Church. It is urgent to know again what necessitates the power of order and what instead does not need any sacred power. Finally it is also right to distinguish the mediation of the body of Christ in terms of prayer and direct fulfilment of every request without necessarily passing through the path of the body of Christ. Let us say immediately every grace of salvation almost always passes through the mediation of the body of Christ. Even if Christ directly calls or intervenes from Heaven, He calls to deliver to the Church. The called is also delivered so that he becomes in the Church an instrument of her salvation. This is what happened with Paul and with every other Saint.

Now Saul, still breathing murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, that, if he should find any men or women who belonged to the Way, he might bring them back to Jerusalem in chains. On his journey, as he was nearing Damascus, a light from the sky suddenly flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” He said, “Who are you, sir?” The reply came, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Now get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do.” The men who were travelling with him stood speechless, for they heard the voice but could see no one. Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him to Damascus. For three days he was unable to see, and he neither ate nor drank. There was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias, and the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” He answered, “Here I am, Lord.” The Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight and ask at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is there praying, and (in a vision) he has seen a man named Ananias come in and lay (his) hands on him, that he may regain his sight.” But Ananias replied, “Lord, I have heard from many sources about this man, what evil things he has done to your holy ones in Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to imprison all who call upon your name.” But the Lord said to him, “Go, for this man is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before Gentiles, kings, and Israelites, and I will show him what he will have to suffer for my name.” So Ananias went and entered the house; laying his hands on him, he said, “Saul, my brother, the Lord has sent me, Jesus who appeared to you on the way by which you came, that you may regain your sight and be filled with the holy Spirit.” Immediately things like scales fell from his eyes and he regained his sight. He got up and was baptized, and when he had eaten, he recovered his strength (At 9,1-19).

The gift of peace is different. We know that our peace is Christ and we live in him, with him and through him. Christ’s body brings peace because it brings Christ the Prince, the Author, the Source and the Body in which peace is lived. If Christ is not received, the disciple leaves the house, the city, but brings Christ with him, because he and Christ are the body of peace. Bringing Christ with him, peace is taken away too, and that house or city remains without any peace. Christ is peace in his body, from his body.

As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons. Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give. Do not take gold or silver or copper for your belts; no sack for the journey, or a second tunic, or sandals, or walking stick. The labourer deserves his keep. Whatever town or village you enter, look for a worthy person in it, and stay there until you leave. As you enter a house, wish it peace. If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; if not, let your peace return to you.

Praying for peace is the right thing, on condition that no one forgets that this prayer calls for the conversion of man to Christ and his body. Let nobody think that true peace can exist without the body of Christ and outside of it. The Church is the body of true peace. Peace is in her, from her, through her and with her.

Mother of God, Angels, Saints, do not allow the Christian to lose his truth.