Peace and ascetical struggle.
We must give our whole life to our Father God. Inspired by our filial love, we try not to refuse him anything. Everything in our lives is brought together and illuminated when we realize we are children of God. Peace governs our lives due to the calm and order in our hearts. No difficulty, however great, can take this peace away, since if God is for us, who is against us?
“And what is peace? Peace is something closely related to war. It is a consequence of victory; peace demands a continual struggle on my part. Without fighting I will never have peace."
The peace that Christ offers us is not just a comfortable and selfish feeling of tranquility, but is rather the result of sacrifice and generosity. It is not the cowardly sense of calm we might achieve by avoiding the demands of our personal struggle, or running away from the challenges of our surroundings. St. Josemaría comments: “Few people understand that war is necessary for peace. First, we must wage war on ourselves; we each need to wage a personal battle against our own passions. Isn't that your experience, your Christian struggle, which consists in overcoming yourselves and preparing to be people who serve?"
If we want to attain peace, we need to be courageous in the spiritual fight. “What a taste of gall and vinegar, of ash and bitter aloes! And this physiological feeling seems as nothing compared with that other bad taste, the one in your soul. The fact is that more is being asked of you, and you can't bring yourself to give it. Humble yourself. Would that bitter taste still remain in your flesh and your spirit if you did all that you could?"
As children of God, “let us fight in our interior life, in an ascetical struggle that fills us with joy and optimism, with peace and hope."
We must also struggle to bring the peace of Christ to others. We want the Cross to triumph over its enemies, so that peace may reign in the world. Our divine war must be a wonderful sowing of peace.
But we know that peace will have its completion only in heaven. Earthly peace is only a beginning, a mere foreshadowing of the full and perfect peace awaiting us as a reward for winning the battle of love: the battle of personal sanctity and apostolate. As Christ promises us: “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life." And St. Josemaría comments: “Try to find anyone on earth who repays with such generosity!"
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