POPE FRANCIS

MORNING MEDITATION IN THE CHAPEL OF THE
DOMUS SANCTAE MARTHAE

True peace is sown in the heart

Thursday, 9 January 2020

[Multimedia]

During his homily at Santa Marta on Thursday, 9 January, Pope Francis stressed that we cannot be Christians if we sow war in our family, neighbourhood and workplace. He was reflecting on the Second Letter of John which urges Christians on the path to peace by remaining in the Lord with the love that is seen in little things. Unless we have peace in our hearts, the Pope said, we cannot think of peace in the world because “peace of the people” or a country is “sown in the heart”. And it is the Lord who makes peace by sending the Holy Spirit to create peace within us. “If we remain in the Lord, our heart will be at peace” and when we slip on a sin or a defect, the Spirit will alert us. The way to remain in the Lord is by loving one another. True love urges us to speak well of others and is revealed in the little things.

To make war “is the temptation of the devil” and once the devil has succeeded in making us light the fire of war, the Pope continued, his job is done and we “are the ones who work to destroy each other”. Indeed it is we who then “carry on the war, the destruction”, destroying first ourselves by throwing love out and then the others. “May the Lord give us the Holy Spirit to remain in him and teach us to love, simply, without making war on others”, the Pope prayed.