Peace 2011
The angels proclaimed “Peace on earth to men of good will” And with the dawn of this new year Joseph Ratzinger “Pope Benedict XVI” announced that he planned to invite religious leaders from the world’s major faiths to gather in Assisi in order to “solemnly renew the commitment by believers of every religion to live their religious faith as a service to the cause of peace.” He further stated: “Whoever is making his way toward God cannot fail to transmit peace, and whoever builds peace cannot fail to draw nearer to God.” The title for his theme for “World Peace Day 2011” was: “Religious Freedom, the Path to Peace.”
What is this peace that the angels proclaimed and what is the “peace” proclaimed by Joseph Ratzinger? Are they the same or are they different?
The Angels announced a peace that was restored between God and man. It was not a peace among men as such but was a higher peace of reconciliation between men of good will and God. The entire sentence from the angels as taken from St. Luke (2, 14) is: “Glory to God in the highest: and on earth, peace to men of good will.” “By this the angels wished to show that the peace which Christ came to bring into the world, was the internal peace for our souls, of which the external peace that subsisted under Augustus, was a figure.” (Nic. De Lyra.) “Peace is made on earth, since human nature, before an enemy to god, is now reconciled and united to Him by His Incarnation.” (Theophy.)
It seems rather clear from this that first we must be of good will towards God. After all we have been taught that the first and the greatest commandment is to love God with all our being with the most preferential love we can have. The love of our neighbor comes second in that we must love him as we love ourselves. Therefore the Angels sing “Glory to God in the highest,” and invite us to join with them in glorifying God. In this manner God will be glorified on earth as He is in Heaven. And all those who are of this good will receive the peace of God. Once these men of good will are at peace with God then they will find that they are then at peace with themselves and then with their neighbor.
We also learn from this that there is no true peace without God. There is no true peace among men without Christ. The only peace is between God and men of good will. And then secondarily there happens to be a peace that men of good will find with themselves and each other. We find that Christ came not to bring peace on earth (for this is reserved for eternity) but, “I came not to send peace, but the sword.” (Matthew X, 34). God does not desire us to be at constant war with one another, but He sees this as a necessary consequence of His coming. Before Christ came man could be at peace with one another in the absence of The Truth. But since Christ has come and given us The Truth in His doctrines (teachings) men are divided against each other. They are separated into those that love God and those who hate and persecute those that love God. Son has risen against father, and daughter against mother etc.
Christ’s coming to this earth has not brought peace but division. Men are now separated into two camps: those that believe and are baptized (and are saved) and those who do not believe, are not baptized (and are damned). There is no longer any room for indifference in the matter. “He that is not with me, is against me: and he that gathereth not with me scattereth.” (Matthew XII, 30).
God does not directly desire this conflict and division, His desire is that all should follow Him. It is clear enough that because men have free wills that many will not be of good will and follow Him. God takes their evil and makes good come from it. This becomes a means to better purify and sanctify those who will follow Him. This enables those of good will to choose Christ over mother, father, husband, wife, son, daughter etc. (see Matthew X, 37)
It is now a division of the world against God. And unless we renounce the world, deny ourselves and take up the cross of Christ we will be lost.
To search for or promote any other peace without Christ or against Christ or indifferent to Christ is doomed to failure. Yet, this is exactly what we saw Karl Woytila – “Pope John Paul II” promoted during his reign; especially at the “Wold Day of Prayer for Peace in Assisi” in 1986. And now Joseph Ratzinger – “Pope Benedict XVI” wishes to recall and reinforce this same demonic illusion upon the world of 2011.
What kind of peace can there be between God and Mammon? What kind of peace can there be between the servants of God and the servants of Mammon? Can the worshipers of Christ be at peace with the worshipers of Satan? Can the followers of Christ be at peace with the followers of Anti-Christ?
The peace that these Modernists are promoting is one of indifference, or perhaps more honestly stated it is a peace with this world and the devils to the exclusion of Christ. It is the “peace” that reigns in Hell. We recall to mind some of the horrifying stories of what took place in Assisi in 1986 and we shudder at the thought of what will happen in 2011. One of the most glaring disgraces was the placing of a statue of a pagan god on the top of a tabernacle where God was once adored in the Blessed Sacrament. A pagan idol god was placed above Christ. And this is supposed to bring peace to the earth?! And this is promoted by men who present themselves as the head of Christ’s Church?
“Whoever is making his way toward God cannot fail to transmit peace and whoever builds peace cannot fail to draw nearer to God.” What clever deceit. Whoever is making his way to God is forging peace between his own soul and God and is simultaneously raging a war against his disordered passions, the fallen world, and the devils. This puts him at odds with the apparent peace that the Modernists are promoting. The second half seems to be better rendered: whoever builds this false peace cannot fail to draw nearer to Satan.
Ratzinger desires to: “solemnly renew the commitment by believers of every religion to live their religious faith as a service to the cause of peace.” Not for God or Christ, but for a false peace that cannot be. The worshipers of Satan can never be at peace with the worshipers of Christ. Those who would attempt to find peace in this indifference and denial of the Truth (Christ) cannot be said to be Christians, much less Catholics. Surely they cannot wish for us all to believe that these promoters of this evil are the vicars of Jesus Christ; but that is exactly what they want us to believe and, sadly most of the world is listening to them rather than to Christ and His true Church.