Peace Be with You Podcast

If I believe I am the Flesh Body and I believe in an After Life, then the Flesh Body must be resurrected. But the belief that the Flesh Body is resurrected is false, incorrect, a widespread faulty belief.

As we study and reflect on scripture, we discover a duality between Flesh Body and Immortal Soul or Spirit. They are not the same thing. The Flesh Body is perishable. It is transitory. Its existence is fleeting. In contrast, an immortal soul — who we are as Divine Self — does not perish. We enjoy eternal life.

There are times when we fully expect to be something or do something or have something — then, when we are denied what we want, we’re ready to fight, ready to go into battle. Disappointed expectations drive us into conflict.

When we create our inner story, we blame our trespasses on situations, on other people, or even on God. We protect our self-image. When another person crosses the line, we attribute their behavior to bad character, nasty disposition, or evil motives. When we mediate, we uncover missing information and redraft our narrative without false attributions.

Peacemakers must become skilled in giving this gift of Divine Face. They will want to turn to the example of Francis who spent the entire night in prayer before he traveled to meet the besieged people of Gubbio, where he tamed the fierce wolf with his prayerful presence.

In Matthew 18:15 we read: “If your brother sins (against you), go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won over your brother.” This passage advises us to take a conciliatory approach.

The bishops meet again next month to reflect further on the path forward beyond the scandals destroying trust in the Catholic Church. With that in mind, I would like to offer the following suggestion for their consideration.

Immortal souls immersed in Divine Love are drawn into divine relationship. And, ultimately, this unity of “Being-In-Love” is what makes peacemaking possible.

In a faith-based approach, we expand the collaboration model. We not only seek to satisfy our interests and the interests of the other party, we also seek to satisfy God’s interests — typically referred to as “the Will of God.”

All conflict is the result of one False Self becoming entangled in opposition to another False Self. Each False Self is comprised of ego traits and swirling clouds of intentions desires. There is one way to de-escalate conflict: Vanish the clusters of False Self traits. Peace arrives after we scrub away ego personality.

Peacemakers encounter a clash of two primary worldviews: The dominant secular culture advances Materialism. The other worldview, a spiritual worldview, rests on the philosophy of Idealism.

Large institutions, such as universities, typically employ ombudspersons. But the Catholic Church lacks such a program.