“Dear children! Also today I am carrying my Son Jesus to you and from this embrace I am giving you His peace and a longing for Heaven. I am praying with you for peace and am calling you to be peace. I am blessing all of you with my motherly blessing of peace. Thank you for having responded to my call.” (December 25, 2015)

Let us remember the message of Our Lady from last Christmas in which she said, ‘Pray to and adore my Son for His peace and joy to enter into your hearts.’

Our Lady often speaks to us saying, ‘Dear children, only my Son Jesus can give you true peace and joy.’ She, as a mother, has nothing better and more valuable to give us than her Son. She knows that only in him and with him, will we have peace in this troubled world.

„...She, as a mother, has nothing better and more valuable to give us than her Son...“

The word peace is often used in public, political and social life. Peace is talked about all around us, maybe even within us, but still there is less and less of it. Various peace agreements or conferences in the world attempt to achieve peace; it is being talked about and negotiated, yet war rages on all sides. The threat of unrest spreads around us. There is restlessness in society, in the Church, among nations, and lack of peace in the hearts of people. Peace is not something that can be achieved by laws. It is in the human heart that war and also peace begin. This is there where all conflicts and disputes originate.

This was experienced by St. Augustine as he wandered around the dead-end streets of life, indulging in his passions and the attractions of sin. The fruit of this living was emptiness of heart and disappointment. He found peace only when he met God. In his Confessions he says, ‘You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.’

„A person who is filled with peace has received what God wants to give him – and becomes one who is not closed in on themselves and is freed from the slavery of sin that brings fear and restlessness...“

It is difficult to list all the causes of unrest and tension. Despite the general technological progress, and seemingly improved quality of life, our lives resemble stormy sea.

Last year we read statistics that there is an increased consumption of anti-depressants. Where did freshness and joy, peace and contentment, disappear to?

Whatever the answer to this difficult question is, one thing is certain: everyone longs for peace and satisfaction.

As Rabindranath Tagore said, ‘The storm still seeks its end in peace even when it strikes against peace with all its might.’ Our life too, alongside every kind of conflict, craves the moment when fullness of peace and final rest are achieved.

Restlessness does not come from God. One can attempt to achieve peace, sometimes in a wrong way, by which turmoil actually deepens. There is superficial peace which is not stable. There is external peace which does not necessarily guarantee that one finds inner peace in it. External peace is the ‘peace of the world’ which, as Jesus says when he promises peace, is completely different from the peace that comes from God. If everything is ‘calm’ around my house, it does not necessarily mean that I also have peace in my heart. External peace can even cause inner restlessness.

In Jesus Christ we are given the fullness of true peace. The fullness of grace comes to us in this peace and therefore ‘peace’ and ‘mercy’ are closely linked. Whoever receives grace, also possesses peace. A person who is filled with peace has received what God wants to give him – and becomes one who is not closed in on themselves and is freed from the slavery of sin that brings fear and restlessness. Restlessness does not come from God. Peace is the most certain sign of God’s presence.

Whoever relies on the Lord, that one receives profound peace. This does not mean that he or she will be spared of the unrest of searching and struggling, temptations and trials. The peace that God gives us does not mean a peaceful life without suffering and difficulties. Peace comes from a passed test, rejected temptation, and fought perseverance in carrying out God’s will. His will is our peace.

Let us pray:

Mary, humble handmaid of the Lord, you became blessed because you believed in the promises of God and the word of God. You are called blessed, because the Lord looked upon the lowliness and humility that you lived as a faithful servant of the Lord. You have completely abandoned yourself to him so that he could fill you with himself and his gifts. You do not cease to be the mother of all those who confidently trust in you. You do not cease, even today, to give Jesus to every heart that opens to you. Do not stop interceding for us even if we stop, relent or get tired.Obtain for every heart, every family and every nation, that longed for peace that only your Son and our Savior, Jesus, can give to us. Amen.