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Being Peacemakers, Living As Children of God

Being Peacemakers, Living As Children of God

Last updated on: July 28, 2026 at 9:46 pm by Henry Karlson

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Being Peacemakers, Living As Children of God 2026-07-28T21:46:52-05:00 Henry Karlson

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Jesus told us that the peacemakers will be blessed. Icon: photo from Petar Milošević: Roof fresco of Pantokrator, Nativity of the Theotokos Church, Bitola, North Macedonia / Wikimedia Commons

Christ is the prince of peace; he blesses those who are peacemakers, that is, those who follow him with the desire to bring a just peace into the world. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Matt. 5:9 RSV). They will be called sons of God, or children of God, because of their unity with Christ and his work. For, in the incarnation, we see the kingdom of God breaking into the world, and those who engage the work of peace represent ways in which the kingdom can be found amongst us. Certainly, they do not establish the kingdom of God, nor can it be said to be of the world, because the kingdom of God is with God in God’s eternity, making it beyond time and space. But, thanks to the incarnation, thanks to the immanent eschaton, the kingdom of God can be seen at work in the world, transforming it so that it can be taken into and have a place in the eschatological kingdom of God. If we want to be known as children of God, if we want to be followers of Christ, we must work for peace. We certainly must not give the excuse that as the kingdom of God is not of this world, it has no place in it, for that would serve as a denial of the incarnation:

Peace, indeed, is serenity of mind, tranquility of soul, simplicity of heart, the bond of love, the fellowship of charity. This it is which removes hatred, settles wars, restrains wrath, tramples upon pride, loves the humble, pacifies the discordant, makes enemies agree. For it is pleasing to everyone. It does not seek what belongs to another or consider anything its own. It teaches men to love because it does not know how to get angry, extol itself, or become inflated with pride. It is meek and humble to all men, possessing rest and tranquility within itself. When the peace of Christ is exercised by a Christian, it is brought to perfection by Christ. [1]

The Way of Peace Is the Way of Love

The way of peace is the way of love. Those who have listened to Christ and want to follow him will follow the way of love, and through that love, will work for peace. Their love for others will have them place the needs of others above themselves, which is why it can be said that love allows them to make “proper sacrifices” to God: “For you cannot, without a firm bond of mutual love, offer pure sacrifices to God.”[2] Peace and love, therefore, come together and work together for the fulfillment of God’s kingdom.

Christ told us that when we pray, we should pray that God’s will should be done on earth as it is in heaven. When we do so, do we mean it? If we do, we will be workers for the kingdom of God, spreading peace in the world, and not just any peace, especially not the false peace of domination or control, but the true peace of love which brings freedom and nurtures the beloved. We will work for the good of all, for it is only in such harmony that peace can truly be established and thrive. As the poor and vulnerable are in desperate need, ignoring them and their plight means we are not properly following the way of the kingdom of God:

Jesus’ teaching on the primacy of love for God is clearly complemented by his insistence that one cannot love God without extending one’s love to the poor. Love for our neighbor is tangible proof of the authenticity of our love for God, as the Apostle John attests: “No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us… God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them” (1 Jn 4:12,16). The two loves are distinct yet inseparable. Even in cases where there is no explicit reference to God, the Lord himself teaches that every act of love for one’s neighbor is in some way a reflection of divine charity: “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me” (Mt 25:40).[3]

Loving God Means Loving the Poor

Every act of love is an act of the kingdom of God, as God is love. “And in many places within Scripture you will find such things. It says ‘God is love.’ See the greatness of love! ‘God is love.’ By the two names the same essence is made known: God and love.”[4] God is not only love, in some sort of passive sense, but God is active love, and through that activity, though God transcends us, we find God is also immanent with us:

God is energizing Love, bombarding all of His creation from insider as well as from outside. He should no longer be conceived by us as a God up over there, but as a personalized energy of love interacting with all His creatures. He leads the universal dance of all things in harmonious yet individualized motion, stretching toward greater complexity and yet greater union in multiplicity.[5]

This is why Christ is able to say to those who think they did not know him, but who lived their lives full of charity and love, doing the work of the kingdom of God, did it for him, connecting themselves to him and his body in such a way they can and will be redeemed by him. Even if they did not explicitly know and follow Christ, they implicitly did so (which is what St. Justin Martyr understood when he said anyone properly following reason, the Logos, before Christ, were Christ’s followers, or “Christians before Christ”).

God is working with and engaging the whole of creation, with Jesus, the God-man, as the bridge; he connects creation with the creator, making sure that all things can and will find their place in the kingdom of God. In doing so, all things, all people, are drawn into Christ, and with him, into the kingdom of God, where they can attain true peace. We can experience it, at least in part, now; but to do so, we must not be selfish or self-centered; we must look beyond ourselves, engaging the world with love, embracing the love God has given us, letting it transform us until we, in all we do, reflect the love of God, a love which seeks to share itself with others. That is, we will create bonds of love which help bring us in harmony with others, establishing, through it, a just peace in the world, a reflection of the kingdom of God which is found in it but is not of it.

[1] St. Caesarius of Arles, Semons. Volume II (81-186). Trans. Sister Mary Magdeleine Mueller, OSF (Washington, DC: CUA Press, 1963), 432-3 [Sermon 174*].

[2] Oecumenius, Commentary On The Catholic Epistles By Oecumenius (6th Century). Trans. John Litteral (No Place Listed; Independently Published, 2025), 70[1 Peter].

[3] Pope Leo XIV, Dilexi te. Vatican translation. ¶26.

[4] Didymus the Blind, Lectures on the Psalms. Trans. Jonathan Douglas Hicks (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2024), 203.

[5] George Maloney, SJ, God’s Exploding Love (New York: Alba House. 1987), 26.

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