New Years- Simple Peace

At the start of World War II, the British government’s Ministry of Information created a set of three posters to keep up the morale of the British people as they faced a brutal war with Germany. Each poster bore the crown of King George VI and a simple message in white typeface against a solid color background. The first poster read: Your Courage, Your Cheerfulness, Your Resolution Will Bring Us Victory. The second poster read: Freedom Is In Peril. Defend It With All Your Might.

These posters were plastered all over Great Britain as powerful reminders to the British people that they may not be able to control the circumstances around them, but they could choose how they responded.

A third poster was also created but it was not released. Most copies of it ended up destroyed after the war. But a few copies of it survived. This poster also has the crown of King George VI and white typeface on a solid color background. But its message read simply: Keep Calm and Carry On.

Keep Calm and Carry On. Isn’t that what Joseph and Mary did when God told them they would bring God’s Son into the world? That kind of faith and courage comes from submitting to God’s will. In Your will is my peace.

How to get it.

As the Rev. Brian Mullady, O.P. notes that when St. Thomas Aquinas examined the important issue of justification, he rightly distinguished it from the virtue of justice.

The virtue of justice refers to a quality formed in the will by which people easily respect and give others their rights.

Justification, on the other hand, refers to the inner integrity in which all the powers of the soul connected with freedom of choice – the intellect, the will, and the passions – are united in action toward the only good that can bring true happiness, our union with God in heaven.

Justification thus implies peace of soul and integrity of character.

This peace can be brought about only by grace because it involves an intimate union with God. It includes the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the virtues that are needed to live a truly Godlike life in this world.

Christ Restores Peace.

Tom Hoopes, who noted like many of us know, that the rosary stops a busy family in it’s tracks, quiets the world’s noise, gathers us together, and focuses us on God and not ourselves. This does wonders for a family psychologically and emotionally.

There will be many times when we are wrestling through conflicts, or grieving losses, or enduring pain. When we are in calm waters, however, we should make the most of it, learning about the way things ought to be. When our relationships are in good order, we should reflect on that, developing our convictions about what peace is, and how we can preserve the tranquility of order.

PRAY THIS: Dear Lord, I need your help today because I don t always see the perfection of your order in this world and in my life. Help me to have faith at all times that you are in control, and to trust your promise of peace in my life. Help me to be a peace-lover and a peacemaker.

Forgive me for ways in which I have engaged in fights with others and myself. Show me in new ways how you have already won the war against evil. As the final battles move toward the end, help me to be an ambassador of your peace, glad to be in your service. Amen.