The Lord's Peace: How to accept Jesus' peace when life knocks you down

'A peace without a cross is not the peace of Jesus.'

"Peace without a cross is not the peace of Jesus." Pope Francis opened up about his personal tribulations and finding the true peace of the Lord during his Tuesday morning homily.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Touching on Christ's words at the Last Supper, Pope Francis focused on the meaning of Jesus's peace and how much it differs from society's general idea of peace.

According to Pope Francis, only the Lord can provide peace during tribulations. The peace he gives is not the same peace given by the world. "The world wants anesthetized peace to prevent us from seeing the cross," according to the Vatican Radio.

"The peace that the world offers us," the Pope said, "is a peace without tribulations. It offers us an artificial peace 'reduced to tranquility.' It is a peace that is only concerned about one's affairs and one's security, lacking in nothing."

"The world teaches us the way to anesthetized peace: it anesthetizes us from seeing another reality of life: the Cross. This is why Paul says that one must enter into the Kingdom of Heaven on the road with many tribulations. But is it possible to obtain peace amidst tribulation? From our side, no; we are unable to make peace that is tranquility, a psychological peace, our peace, because tribulations are there, whether pain, illness or death.  But the peace that Jesus gives is a gift: it is a gift of the Holy Spirit; and this peace lasts through tribulations and beyond. It's not a sort of stoicism of the 'fakir.' No. it's something else."

Once you find God's peace, you will see it is a "gift that keeps on going."

"God's peace is real peace, that enters the reality of life, that does not deny life; that is life." Even through suffering and bad things the peace within "is not lost, but goes ahead bearing the Cross and suffering."

Pope Francis explained that even he gets angry and has moments where his heart is troubled. In these moments, he loses peace. "It is because I am not open to the peace of Jesus," because I am unable to "bear life as it comes, with its crosses and sorrows that accompany it."

We, as God's children, must not fall into the idea of quiet peace. We must learn how to ask for the grace to be able to ask the Lord for his peace.

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