Following the Prince of Peace
By Abbot Bishop Brian Ernest Brown, CWC
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.” — Matthew 5:9
Beloved in Christ,
When we call Jesus the Prince of Peace, we invoke more than a comforting title; we proclaim a truth about the very heart of God and the calling of every disciple. To follow the Prince of Peace is not simply to admire His gentleness or to long for tranquility, it is to walk in the costly and transformative path of peace that He Himself walked, even unto the cross.
Christ’s peace is not a passive quiet or a fragile ceasefire between conflicts. The world’s peace often depends on control, fear, or silence, on keeping everything just calm enough so as not to disturb the powerful or the comfortable. But the peace of Christ disrupts false harmony. It calls injustice by name and yet refuses to answer hatred with hatred. To follow the Prince of Peace, therefore, is to accept that His peace may first unsettle us before it heals us. It asks us to lay down our weapons of pride, resentment, and self-defense so that grace might take their place.
Peace begins in the soul that surrenders to God. It is born in prayer, in the daily stillness where we dare to listen for the whisper of the Spirit within the noise of our own hearts. Following the Prince of Peace requires us to examine what disturbs our inner harmony, our fears, our anxieties, our need to control, and to offer these to the One who says, “My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.” This is why the contemplative life of the Coworkers of Christ is so vital: we cultivate a peace that can then be shared, a peace that breathes through us into the world.
Yet peace that stays within us is incomplete. To follow Christ is to let peace become incarnate in our relationships, our communities, and even our enemies. We are called to speak gently where there is anger, to forgive where there is injury, and to bridge where there is division. The Prince of Peace does not lead us away from the world’s pain but sends us into it as instruments of reconciliation. As coworkers in God’s service, we are invited to become channels of His peace, to bear witness that the Kingdom of God is not built by domination but by mercy.
To follow the Prince of Peace is to walk a cross-shaped road. The peace of Christ does not avoid suffering; it redeems it. It turns enemies into brothers, fear into faith, and violence into compassion. The Prince of Peace did not win peace through power but through love poured out, arms stretched wide in forgiveness. To be His followers is to live as those same outstretched arms, willing to embrace, to heal, and to bear the world’s wounds in love.
So, my dear ones, let us walk after the Prince of Peace with courage. Let our hearts become altars of His calm presence; our hands, extensions of His mercy; and our voices, the gentle echo of His truth. In doing so, we become what He called us to be, peacemakers, true children of God.
Amen.