A different kind of peace : Brett Fish

Some more thoughts that jumped out at me as i was reading ‘Chasing Francis’ recently.

Firstly, if you have never read the peace prayer of Francis of Assisi, this thing is so flippin powerful. Imagine if every day, all of us started off our days by honestly praying this and then looking for it to determine the kind of day we have:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek

to be consoled as to console;

to be understood as to understand;

to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

After sharing the prayer and understanding it in a different light, the main character Chase writes a journal entry as a letter to St. Francis, in which he looks a little bit deeper at what peace is:

Journal Entry; The San Rufino Friary

Tonight was one of those times when I felt like the curtain between heaven and earth became very thin. I saw another dimension of what it meant to be a Christian, and I was [am] grateful.

Listening to Brother Frank today, I realised I’ve confused being a peace lover with being a peace maker. A peace lover is someone who enjoys the absence of conflict, but a peacemaker is someone who is proactively engaged in works of reconciliation in every sphere of life, from the personal to the global. That’s a whole different spiritual ball game from the one I’ve been playing. I’ve always stayed away from this stuff because it smelled of “liberal” politics and theology. But is being an advocate for peace and justice and encouraging leaders to follow a biblical program for peacemaking an indication of anything except wanting to be obedient to the gospel? That is a lot to process in one day. It’s given me a lot to think about.

In one of the handouts I got at the conference, there’s a quote by Donald Spoto from his book called Reluctant Saint. “When Francis insisted on the need for peace, it was more than just a sentimental wish; it was a prayer for the human condition. It derived from his acquaintanceship with Scripture, from hearing the words spoken at worship, and from his direct inner experience of the peace of god, which had changed and was continuing to change his life as his own conversion continued… Francis embarked each day on his mission to proclaim God’s peace to a violent world. Much more than the mere absence of conflict, peace was to be the result of a better relationship with God and neighbour, and was therefore necessarily linked to justice and love.”

I love what G.K. Chesterton said centuries later about this kind of Christianity: “What a wonderful idea – and a great pity so few have ever tried it!”

Francis, your genius was that you read stuff in the Bible [like the Sermon on the Mount] and you didn’t spiritualise or theologise it. You heard Jesus say, “Happy are the peacemakers,” so you got up every day and embarked on a new peace mission. My usual approach is to read the Bible, try to understand what it’s saying, and then apply it. Your formula was the reverse. You applied the Bible, and then came to a fresh understanding of what it actually meant. What a concept!

Sister Irene really nailed me on some stuff. She was right on a lot of it too. I’ve done plenty of whining and blaming in my life. You once said, “Above all the grace and the gifts that Christ gives to His beloved is that of overcoming self.” My self could use a little overcoming.