United by Christmas

Week 2 – Prayer

If men [and women] really wanted peace, they would sincerely ask God for it and He would give it to them.  But why should He give the world a peace which it does not really desire?  The peace the world pretends to desire is really no peace at all…

 So instead of loving what you think is peace, love other[s] and love God above all.  And instead of hating the people you think are warmongers, hate the appetites and the disorder in your own soul, which are the causes of war.  If you love peace, then hate injustice, hate tyranny, hate greed—but hate these things in yourself, not in another.

  Thomas Merton