Article November 17, 1986 Issue

The people who are blessed are not the peace-lovers...

William Barclay

The people who are blessed are not the peace-lovers but the peace-makers. It can happen that a man is a peaceful man and a peace-lover, and is yet not a peace-maker. A man may know that there is something wrong in some situation, in his family, in his Church, in some group of which he is a member; he may know that something ought to be done to rectify the situation; but he may also know that any step taken to mend the situation may well involve difficulty and trouble and problems which it will not be pleasant to face. ... The man who is blessed is the man who is prepared to face difficulty, unpleasantness, unpopularity, trouble in order to make peace. The peace of which this Beatitude speaks is not the spurious peace which comes from evading the issue; it is the peace which comes from facing the issue, and from being prepared to give everything in toil and in sacrifice which the situation demands.

William Barclay

The Beatitudes and The Lord's Prayer for everyman

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