The promotion of peace is not only one of the dimensions of Christian charity, but represents the highest fulfilment of the Gospel, God’s very dream for humanity. In a time marked by conflict, indifference, injustice and new forms of poverty, the Church – and particularly the sons and daughters of Saint Vincent de Paul – are called to be artisans of peace, witnessing with their lives and actions that peace is possible and that it comes from lived love, justice and service to the least among us.
The root of Christian peace is in God’s love: ‘God is love; whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him’ (1 Jn 4:16). Benedict XVI reminds us that being Christian does not come from an ethical decision or a great idea, but from an encounter with Christ, who transforms the heart and directs life towards active love, towards a concrete commitment to others¹. Peace, then, is not simply the absence of conflict, but the fullness of reconciled relationships, communion, and respect for the dignity of every person. It is a gift to be welcomed and a task to be built every day. Pope Francis writes: ‘Let us dream as one humanity… all brothers and sisters!’ (Fratelli tutti, n. 8)². True peace is God’s dream that becomes the mission of Christians.
There is no peace without justice, and there is no justice without the ability to look at others with the eyes of Christ. Pope Benedict XVI teaches that ‘Charity is not a kind of social activity for the Church… but belongs to her nature, is an indispensable expression of her very essence’ (Deus Caritas Est)³. Charity is always also a commitment to social justice: faith impels us to denounce injustices and to promote dignified living conditions, where no one is discarded or abandoned. Pope Francis reminds us that ‘many forms of injustice… are nourished by anthropological visions that are reductive and by an economic model based on profit, which does not hesitate to exploit, discard and even kill people’ (Fratelli tutti, n. 22)⁴. Working for peace therefore means committing oneself to the poor and the excluded, because ‘the true treasure of the Church is the poor’ (St. Lawrence, quoted by Benedict XVI).
In the Vincentian tradition, the promotion of peace and reconciliation was considered a true ‘service of mercy.’ Thus St. Vincent states in the Common Rules:
Although everyone should ardently desire and even humbly ask to be employed in assisting the sick and in settling disputes and discord, especially during missions, nevertheless, in order that charity may be well ordered by obedience, no one shall undertake these works of mercy without being authorised by the Superior.
(Common Rules, I, 8)⁹
This attention shows how much ‘social peace’ is an essential part of the Vincentian mission: to be mediators, peacemakers, instruments of communion in places most marked by conflict and division.
Hope is the soul of Christian peace: ‘We have been saved in hope…’ (Spe Salvi, n. 1)⁵. Hope allows us to face the present, even when it is difficult and marked by pain, with the courage of those who know that the goal is great and that God’s promise is certain. The culture of peace is built through dialogue and reconciliation. ‘The peace process is… a patient work of seeking truth and justice, which honours the memory of the victims and opens, step by step, to a common hope stronger than revenge’ (Fratelli tutti, n. 226)⁶. Peace is ‘handcrafted’, it is built in everyday life: by welcoming, forgiving, breaking down the walls of indifference, fear and resignation. This is the way shown by the Good Samaritan and lived by Saint Vincent in his countless acts of care, listening, service and mediation among people.
Saint Vincent also recommended an evangelical attitude in the face of persecution, injustice and slander:
“If divine Providence allows the Congregation or one of its houses or one of its members to be struck and tested by calumny or persecution for no reason, we will refrain with great care from any claim, curse or even complaint against the persecutors and slanderers themselves; on the contrary, we will praise and bless God, thanking him with joy as for anoccasion of great good… we will pray from our hearts for all of them and, if a favourable opportunity presents itself, we will do them good, keeping in mind what Christ commands us, as he commands all other faithful, when he says: ‘Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who persecute and slander you’ (Mt 5:44).
(Common Rules, XII, 13)¹⁰
This spirituality of active, gentle, persevering and merciful peace must continue to animate our service and witness today.
The Church and Vincentian missionaries are called to proclaim and witness to peace not only with words, but with active, intelligent and organised charity. Pope Benedict XVI emphasises that “love — caritas — will always be necessary, even in the most just society. No just state order can make the service of love superfluous… There will always be suffering that needs consolation and help. There will always be loneliness” (Deus Caritas Est)⁷. For this reason, the promotion of peace begins with the building of communities that live in communion and solidarity, that care for the little ones, the suffering, those in need. Evangelical peace thus expands: from prayer to service, from the Eucharist to the peripheries of existence, from proclamation to the promotion of justice and dignity.
‘Love is possible, and we are capable of practising it because we are created in the image of God. To live love and thus let God’s light shine forth in the world: this is what I would like to encourage with this Encyclical’ (Deus Caritas Est)⁸.
Saint Vincent de Paul not only proclaimed peace, but sowed it with concrete gestures of reconciliation, with mediation between the poor and the powerful, with service to the least and care for communities wounded by discord. His example teaches us that peace does not come from the absence of problems, but from active charity that resolves conflicts, knows how to forgive, and becomes an instrument of communion.
Every brother is called to continue St. Vincent’s art of peace:
On the path traced by Jesus and lived by Saint Vincent, let us rediscover the beauty and urgency of peace as charity in action, as hope that does not disappoint, as a path of universal fraternity.
May the Lord of peace, through the intercession of Saint Vincent de Paul, make us docile and creative instruments of his love, tireless sowers of reconciliation and communion.
Girolamo Grammatico
Office of Communication
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