Peace, as well as love, is born from a new heart, a heart made new by God's gift of reconciliation. A new heart is the foundation of peace in the world. All truly human actions proceed from the heart, the innermost centre of the human person, the dwelling-place of our conscience and of our deepest convictions. This is why peace of heart is the heart of peace�peace inside families, peace within villages, towns and cities, peace between nations and in International life. Peace anywhere in the world is possible only if there is first of all peace of heart.
But this inner peace is continually threatened in our modern world. It is disturbed by human passions: by hatred, envy, lust for power, pride, prejudice and an uncontrolled desire for wealth. Violence and war come from our blindness of spirit and the disorder in our hearts. These lead to injustice, which in turn causes tension and conflict. In addition, people's consciences are often confused today by an ideological manipulation of information.
Clearly it takes great courage to open ourselves to conversion of heart and to maintain this conversion in humility and freedom. The obstacles to peace are many. "They are grave, they present serious threats. But since they depend on the spirit, the will, the human 'heart', with the help of God, people can overcome them. They must refuse to give in to fatalism and discouragement. Positive signs are already piercing the darkness". And let us never forget that the final triumph over darkness has already been won by Jesus Christ, the Light of the world.
Our hope for the victory of peace is rooted in our faith in God, the Creator of heaven and earth. From the very beginning, in the act of creation itself, God's goodness and providence are revealed. As the Book of Genesis says: "God saw all he had made, and indeed it was very good".
The created world is not the result of mere chance. It springs from God's love; it is sustained by God's love, and all the events of human history are subject to God's loving providence.
In the great event of the Incarnation - the mystery of God becoming man�we understand much more of the mystery of creation. For Christ is, as Saint Paul says, "the firstborn of all creation, for in him were created all things in heaven and on earth, everything visible and everything invisible".
God loved the world so much that, from the beginning, he intended through the human nature of Jesus his beloved Son to enter into union with all humanity. Being both God and Man, Jesus could restore what sin had destroyed; he could bring creation back to its original destiny. Thus, in the words of Saint Paul, "God wanted all perfection to be found in him and all things to be reconciled through him and for him, everything in heaven and everything on earth".
The mystery of creation, then, is part of our celebration today on this feast of Christ the King, for Christ is also the Lord of heaven and earth, the one who reconciled all creation to himself and "made peace by his death on the Cross". With grateful hearts, we praise the Lord with the words of the Psalm:
"Know that he, the Lord, is God.
He made us, we belong to him, we are his people...
Give thanks to him and bless his name.
Indeed, how good is the Lord, eternal his merciful love.
He is faithful from age to age".
God made us. Not only did God make us, but he "has made it possible for us to join the Saints and with them to inherit the light... He has taken us out of the power of darkness and created a place for us in the Kingdom of the Son that he loves... In him were created all things in heaven and on earth... all things were created through him and for him. Before anything was created, he existed, and he holds all things in unity".
Christ the King is the beginning.
He is the firstborn from the dead.
Christ the King is the head of his body the Church.
In him we have redemption, the forgiveness of Our sins.
In Christ the King all fullness dwells! Amen.
