Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Who are peacemakers? Those who make peace. Do you see those who are in discord? Be among them a minister of peace. Speak well of one to the other, and of this one to that one. Do you hear bad things about one of them from the other as from one who is angry? Do not betray: suppress the insult heard from the angry one, give faithful counsel for concord. But also, if you wish to be a peacemaker among your two discordant friends, begin by being at peace yourself: you must pacify yourself within, where perhaps you daily quarrel with yourself. Did not he have a quarrel within himself, who said: The flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you would? These are the words of the Holy Apostle. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man; but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and making me a captive to the law of sin which is in my members. If, therefore, there is within the inner man a certain daily quarrel, and the commendable fight is engaged, lest the superior be overcome by the inferior, lest desire conquer the mind, lest lust conquer wisdom, that is the true peace which you must make within yourself, so that what is better in you commands the inferior. That which is better in you is where the image of God is. This is called the mind, it is called intelligence; there faith burns, there hope is strengthened, there charity is kindled. Does your mind wish to be capable of overcoming your lusts? Let it be subjected to the greater, and it will conquer the lesser; and there will be true, certain, and most orderly peace within you. What is the order of this peace? God commands the mind, the mind commands the flesh: nothing is more orderly. But still the flesh has its weaknesses. It was not so in paradise: it became such through sin, it has the bond of discord against us because of sin. One came without sin to reconcile our soul with our flesh, and deigned to give us the pledge of the Spirit. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. But this whole battle, which wears us down through infirmity - and even when we do not consent to evil desires, we are still somewhat occupied by the struggle itself, not yet secure - this whole battle will not be there when death is swallowed up in victory. Hear how it will not be: The corruptible body must, says the Apostle, put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this mortal has put on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory. The war is finished, and ended with peace. Hear the voice of the triumphant: Where, O death, is your struggle? where, O death, is your sting? Now this voice is of the triumphant: no enemy will remain at all, no fighter within, no tempter without. Therefore blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Not the punishment but the cause makes a martyr.
Blessed are those who suffer persecution for justice's sake. This distinction separates the martyr from the thief: for even the thief suffers persecution for his wrongs, not seeking a crown but paying a due penalty. It is not the punishment that makes a martyr, but the cause: let him first choose the cause, and confidently endure the punishment. In one place there were three crosses when Christ suffered: He in the middle, and on either side two thieves. Consider the punishment, nothing is more similar: yet one of the thieves found paradise on the cross. He in the middle, judging, condemns the proud and helps the humble. That wood was a tribunal for Christ. What will the judge do if he, judged, could do this? He said to the confessed thief: Verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise. For he delayed himself. What had he said? Remember me, Lord, when you come into your kingdom. "I know my wrongs," he says, "surely I am tormented until you come." And because whoever humbles himself shall be exalted, he immediately pronounced the sentence, granted forgiveness: Today, he says, you shall be with me in paradise. But was the whole Lord buried that day? According to the flesh, He was to be in the tomb; according to the soul, He was to be among the damned, not to be bound, but to free the bound. If therefore He was to be among the damned that day according to the soul, and according to the flesh to be in the tomb, how did He say: Today you will be with me in paradise? But is not Christ wholly spirit and flesh? Did you forget, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Did you forget, that Christ is the Power of God and the Wisdom of God? Where then is the Wisdom of God not? Is it not said of it: It reaches from end to end mightily and orders all things sweetly? Therefore, according to the person of the Word, he says: Today you will be with me in paradise. "Today," he says, "according to the soul I descend to the damned, but according to divinity I do not depart from paradise."
Listeners, although eager, Aug. does not wish to burden.
I have explained all the beatitudes of Christ, as much as I was able, to your Charity. I see indeed that you are so eager that you still wish to hear. Your Charity has incited us to speak much, and perhaps we could say more: but it is better that you thoroughly chew over what you receive, and healthily digest it.