The Seventh Beatitude: Peace and Divine Sonship

After purity of heart comes peace. For when the heart has been cleansed and made simple in its desire, it is brought into harmony within itself. Peace is the tranquility of order, when the soul is no longer divided against itself, nor drawn in contrary directions by conflicting loves.

The peacemakers are first at peace within themselves. Having subdued disorderly passions and subjected the lower parts of the soul to reason, and reason itself to God, they become rightly ordered. From this inward peace flows outward peace, for a soul at rest in God does not provoke strife but seeks concord wherever it can.

This Beatitude follows rightly after purity of heart. For only a pure heart can be fully ordered, and only an ordered soul can be peaceful. Where there is impurity of intention, there is division; where there is division, there can be no true peace.

The promise given is that peacemakers shall be called the children of God. For the Son of God is Himself our peace, and those who imitate Him by restoring order and concord bear the likeness of their Father. As God brings harmony out of disorder, so the peacemakers reflect His work by drawing others toward unity.

Thus the ascent approaches its completion. The soul that has been humbled, healed, purified, made merciful, and raised to contemplation now participates in the likeness of God Himself. And this likeness prepares the way for the final Beatitude, in which the soul is tested and perfected through suffering.

Source: St. Augustine, On the Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, Book I, Chapters 7–8.