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Don’t compromise the truth for the sake of peace

I have heard some people say pro-life Catholics shouldn’t be so divisive. Jesus was the Prince of Peace and his followers should be peaceful, not confrontational.

Jesus said, “I leave you my peace, not as the world gives peace, but my peace I leave you.” So there are two different kinds of peace—the world’s and God’s. Jesus also said, “I have not come to bring peace but the sword, to turn mother against daughter or father against son.”

The world’s idea of peace is more the absence of war. Each side agreeing to fight no more for the sake of peace. To obtain this truce, each side agrees to compromise a little of what they believe.

Jesus never compromised the truth for the sake of peace. If he had, he would never have died on the cross. It was after he overturned the money tables in the temple and chased out the lenders that they sought to kill him. He never asked his followers to compromise the truth, to set it aside for the sake of peace. He told us to take up our cross and follow him even to death. He told us to set our lamps on the lamp stand so all the household could see by it, not to cover or hide it under a bushel basket for the sake of the world’s peace.

The human soul is made in a way that requires the grace or presence of God within it to be at peace. That is the peace Jesus gives. Without him, our soul is filled with darkness and confusion. We are in turmoil inside, and often we seek to find peace everywhere but where we can find it. Sometimes people look for it in drugs or alcohol, money, power, possessions, amusements of every kind imaginable, food, sex, even in relationships.

Like St. Augustine said, “Our hearts are restless, Oh God, until they rest in you.” To some, like St. Paul, this peace comes like a lightening bolt from out of the blue, in an instant. To most of us, it comes in drips and drabs throughout our entire lives as we die to self, let go, and let God. It is by seeking the world’s peace that we impede the peace God gives.

On a person-to-person level, St. Augustine said if you see a brother sin and you fail to admonish them, then their sin is also on your head. But if it is apparent that they already know what you believe or, after you have admonished them, they still refuse to believe the truth, hold your tongue or you will only harden their hearts.

On a larger scale, in society in general, Christians are called to be a light unto the nations. It is our mission to fight against all injustices, including defending the life of the unborn. The Constitution doesn’t say anywhere in it there should be a separation of Church and state. It says the government should make no laws neither establishing a particular religion nor prohibiting the practice thereof.

Preventing Christians from defending the sacredness of human life or from fighting against any injustices is the prohibition of the practice of our religion.

-Sandra Dudley, Sunman