Peace as the pursuit of solidarity with the truth

It is good to remember that above all St. Francis was a lover of the Truth, Jesus Christ. Peace is not the absence of conflict but rather the pursuit of solidarity with the truth, a relationship, which binds all souls, and is written on the heart by God. We must build on this shared foundation as we repulse evil, in our brother, in our neighbor, and in ourselves. All else is false peace.

St. Francis’ journey to Egypt and confronted Sultan al-Kamil, a nephew of Saladin, is an example of his authentic understanding of peace.

Here is the account from “Verba fratris Illuminati socii b. Francisci ad partes Orientis et in conspectu Soldani Aegypti“, Codex Vaticanus Ott.lat.n.552:

The same sultan submitted this problem to him: “Your Lord taught in his gospels that evil must not be repaid with evil, that you should not refuse your cloak to anyone who wants to take your tunic, etc. (Mt 5,40): All the more Christians should not invade our land!”. And Blessed Francis answered: ”It seems to me that you have not read the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ in its entirety. In fact it says elsewhere: “if your eye causes you sin, tear it out and throw it away” (Mt 5 , 29). With this, Jesus wanted to teach us that if any person, even a friend or a relative of ours, and even if he is dear to us as the apple of our eye, we should be willing to repulse him, to weed him out if he sought to take us away from the faith and love of our God. This is precisely why Christians are acting according to justice when they invade the lands you inhabit and fight against you, for you blaspheme the name of Christ and strive to turn away from his worship as many people as you can. But if you were to recognize, confess, and worship the Creator and Redeemer, Christians would love you as themselves instead”.”

“Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice” Jn. 18:37

Peace is a relationship. Invest in the love of Truth and peace will flourish.