Peace is a Person – Jesus Christ. It was at Christmas in 2012 when, according to the testimony of the visionary Maria Lunetti, the Child Jesus spoke for the first time during an apparition from the arms of the Virgin Mary. He said: “I am your peace, live my commandments”.

Jesus’ peace is not of this world. He tells us that we can obtain it by keeping the commandments. He laid down His life for the greatest commandment He gave us: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:30-31). Jesus and his friends, the saints, die out of love for this commandment. This is Jesus’ way of peace.

We all long for peace and seek it. In fact, everything a person does, he does in order to be well, to be content. But the peace that this world offers is short-lived, it will quickly fade away. The powerful of this world want others to die for them, to be well and have peace. Jesus shows us another way, in human terms it looks like He loses, but in the end, it is always He who is the only winner. Love has the last word.

Restlessness arises when we are unable to die for others, to accept them as they are, the situation as it is. From small disturbances, conflicts, big ones arise and can escalate to war. Mary gives us a simple advice – return to prayer.

Jesus was constantly in prayer with the Father; when things were difficult He prayed more. You are who you are with – it is said and also that everyone prays as he or she lives, because everyone lives as he or she prays.

“The fruit of prayer is faith, the fruit of faith is love, the fruit of love is service, and the fruit of service is peace”, said Mother Teresa.

There is one well-known incident from her life. Her fellow sisters were increasingly busy caring for the poor on the streets of Calcutta. It required more and more time until it interfered with the daily schedule the sisters had at the convent. They were thinking how to adjust the schedule to leave more time for the poor. They wanted to shorten the time of daily adoration. But instead of shortening the prayer time, Mother Teresa lengthened it by an hour. Again, peace returned, and there was enough time for everything. Mother Teresa knew that when the demands of the service increased, it was necessary to pray more. The fruit of faith is a specific love that brings peace.

The Queen of Peace is calling us: “Return to prayer”, and this is the answer to the solution to the turmoil. She said: “My children, there is no peace where there is no prayer and there is no love where there is no faith; In prayer you will receive the answer to all our whys and every pain, cross, darkness will be transformed into light; My motherly heart longs for your heart to be open to say to it: “Believe!”; My children, faith is the only thing that will give you strength in the trials of life. It will renew your soul and open the paths of hope. I am with you. I gather you around me because I want to help you so that you can help your neighbors in discovering faith, the only joy and happiness of life.”

 Let us pray:

Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi (Prayer for Peace): Lord, make me an instrument of your peace: where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

By Terézia Gažiová