Pax et Bonum
Peace and all good! It is a greeting we Franciscans use often in our daily lives—familiar, warm, almost instinctive. Yet it invites an uncomfortable question: do we truly mean what we say? And perhaps more importantly, do we truly understand what we are invoking when we speak of peace?
The world tends to define peace as the absence of war, conflict, or visible hostility—when voices are silent and weapons laid down. But such peace is fragile and external, easily broken by fear, misunderstanding, or the next inevitable disagreement. Even in our personal lives, we often imagine peace as those rare, fleeting moments when demands momentarily loosen their grip: when work pauses, relationships feel less strained, and life seems, if only briefly, manageable.
Yet how often, even in those quiet intervals, do we fail to rest? Instead of receiving peace, we fill the silence with anxiety—replaying conversations, planning responses, worrying about what lies ahead. The pressure may ease for a moment, but our hearts remain unsettled. We forget that peace is not something to be postponed until our problems are solved; it is something to be guarded within the very midst of them.
Franciscan spirituality invites us to a deeper understanding. For Saint Francis, peace was not the reward at the end of suffering, but a way of walking through it. It was born of minoritas—the humble acceptance of our limits—and of radical trust in God’s providence. True peace does not depend on controlling outcomes, resolving every tension, or escaping hardship. It flows instead from surrender, from living lightly, and from recognizing that we are held even when life feels uncertain.
To greet one another with “Peace and all good” is therefore not a polite wish, but a gentle challenge. It calls us to become instruments of that peace: to carry it into our relationships, our anxieties, our unfinished struggles. In choosing to remain grounded in God rather than in our fears, we discover that peace is not an absence, but a presence—quiet, resilient, and enduring—offered to us daily, if we are willing to receive it.
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