JESUS THE PRINCE OF PEACE

              This weekend we celebrate the 4th Sunday of Advent. The Advent Season this year has flown by very quickly. As we all know, Advent is a time of preparation to celebrate the birth of our Savior. We all know that Jesus is not born anew each Christmas. We pray that all the attributes of Jesus will be born anew in each of us.

              One of those qualities that we attribute to Jesus is peace and we call him the Prince of Peace. Certainly, this has been a very tumultuous year for the Church of Buffalo. The ongoing discord and division we have experienced this past year unfortunately is not unknown to the Church. There have been other times in the history of the Church when the Church faced discord and division. On those occasions individuals rose up to promote peace among the Christian family.

              In the 7th Century Isaac the Syrian, a monk, preached “be at peace with your own soul; then heaven and earth will be at peace with you.” Many saints observed how pointing a finger at another is how every great conflict begins. St. Philip Neri urged his followers not to remind others of their defects. Accuse another and peace is lost.

              Jesus proclaimed: “Blessed are the peacemakers” and St. Paul writes to the Ephesians that “Jesus is our peace.” St. Pope John XXIII maintained that a peaceful person does more good than a learned one. Orthodox Saint Seraphim of Sarov proclaims: “Maintain a spirit of peace and you’ll save a thousand souls.”

              We are about to celebrate Christmas once again in a few short days. Let us make Christ present in our world by the attributes of Jesus that we carry in our life to be shared with others.