Peace: We Can Get There from Here

The following is an article that Blessed Michael Sopocko originally wrote for the Marian Helpers Bulletin, Spring 1956 issue. Blessed Michael was the spiritual director and confessor of St. Faustina.

As a house on a foundation, so our faith is based on the truth of the Resurrection, "and if Christ has not risen, vain then is our preaching, vain too is your faith" (1 Cor 15:14). That the faith of the Apostles in this truth might be strengthened, our Savior often showed Himself to them, permitted Thomas to touch His wounds, and greeted the Apostles with the words, "Peace be to you."

Why didn't He speak this way to them before His Passion? Because the work of Redemption had not been completed. However, after the eternal enemy of mankind was crushed, original sin removed, and reconciliation completed between God and humanity, whom He adopted as His children, He permitted Himself to be called Father, and peace, therefore, returned to the earth.

Peace with oneself rests upon internal harmony. There are two who want to give mankind peace: the world and Christ. The peace of the world is external. The peace of Christ is internal. The former ends in confusion and collapse. The latter terminates in victory, strength, and everlasting peace.

Christ brings wonderful peace, true peace, "such as the world cannot give." His peace does not consist in external concord with others, but above all in concord with God, one that produces concord within oneself, a peace of conscience.

"A new commandment I give you, that you would love one another," Jesus says. This is a necessary condition of peace with our neighbor. "But I say to you, love your enemies" (Mt 5:44).

True peace is given by Him alone, who removes the cause of unrest, which is sin. The Most Merciful Savior by His death on the cross created an inexhaustible treasury of His merits. After His Resurrection, He set up the Sacraments through which the Church applies those merits to individual souls.

By the Sacrament of Baptism, original sin is removed, and in the Sacrament of Penance, which was established on Resurrection day, sins committed after Baptism are forgiven. Through these sacraments, The Divine Mercy pours down true peace unceasingly on those who receive them worthily.

True peace, therefore, flows only from God's mercy in the Sacraments of Baptism and Penance. This is the reason why Christ, after His Resurrection, greeted the Apostles with the words, "Peace be to you," and repeated His greeting twice while instituting the Sacrament of Penance.

Learn more about Blessed Michael Sopocko.
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