The Peace Christ Brings – A Reflection

I began reading Thomas Merton’s book Passion for Peace today. In his forward to the book, William H. Shannon shared this quote of Merton’s. Merton was commenting on the prison writings of Fr Alfred Delp who was a Jesuit Priest in Germany. Fr Delp was a part of the German resistance to Hitler in the 1940’s. His writings have been compared to Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Letters and Papers from Prison. Both of these theologians whom Merton followed closely spoke in the midst of the horrors of hatred and war. Merton’s words about Fr Delp struck a nerve deep within me.

Christ Our Lord did not come to bring peace to the world as a kind of spiritual tranquilizer. He brought to His disciples a vocation and a task, to struggle in the world of violence to establish His peace not only in their own hearts but in society itself. (Passion for Peace, p. 12 and “The Non-Violent Alternative” p. 13 in the essay “Peace: Christian Duties and Perspectives”… thank you, Paul Pynkoski for sharing the source!)

Today we don’t need a tranquilizer… we need a spiritual awakening. The call to discipleship is, as Bonhoeffer said, a costly calling. May we be willing to pay such a price as we serve the Lord and share his message of peace.