Order is one of the elements of beauty
combined with grandeur.
Aristotle
In This Chapter
Saint Augustine defined peace as “the tranquility of order.” Order is the disposition of beings according to their nature and end.
The modern world has plunged into disorder. One aspect of today’s disorder is the lack of true peace—a peace-war, war-peace quagmire.
We can gauge our world’s happiness and unhappiness by the intensity of its tranquility or uneasiness. Today, uneasiness has been established, leading to the lure and fallacies of drugs. Unfortunately, it does not stop at that.
Saint Augustine
The Tranquility of Order
After Saint Augustine defined peace as the tranquility of order, the notion of peace remained in peace and was no longer discussed. Where there is order, there is tranquility. This tranquility is called peace. Peace is not, therefore, just any tranquility. Peace is not tranquility indifferent to order or disorder. When things are at peace, you can feel the order.
Let us first examine the notion of order. What does order mean? It is the disposition of beings according to their nature, then according to their end, and then according to their freedom and means to move toward their end.
A microphone like the one I have before me is in order when all its elements are composed and arranged according to their nature and purpose. Its purpose is to capture the sound of the lecturer’s words and spread them around the hall so that everyone can hear. If I were to introduce into his structure a harp string, for example, it would not work, and it would not be ordered according to its purpose. Furthermore, all these elements must be coordinated and interwoven to achieve the microphone’s purpose.
Finally, freedom of movement is necessary for an object to reach its end. In the case of the microphone, this includes a certain elasticity to vibrate with the sound. It needs to have the reactivity and flexibility to pick up the sound. Therefore, orderly freedom of movement is necessary to accomplish its end. This is the proper order.
St. Dominic meditating
Order is something missing in the contemporary world. The more we look for it, the more it flees between our fingers. And the more these fingers turn into claws seeking to retain order, the more it crumbles.
An Old Broom and a Ridiculous Hat
We can imagine that as this meeting was beginning, there was an old broken broom and a ridiculous hat on these steps. There would be general malaise in the room for as long as someone did not pick up these objects and remove them. After that, everyone would want to know who left them there and why they did it, for they should not have been left there. Only then would they ask the speaker to begin his lecture. That disorder produced uneasiness, and the restoration of order restored tranquility. This tranquility is called peace.
The vision of God in Paradise will show us the supreme cause, the supreme good, and our will shall rest in peace in Him, in the tranquility of order. In Heaven, everything is in order because everything is consistent with Him.[1]
Tranquility and Movement
Some types of immobility do not deserve the name tranquility, for certain forms of atony and inaction are not peace.
A stevedore’s powerful arm carrying a large volume or an athlete lifting a huge weight is at peace even though you can see he is making a huge effort. Conversely, a paralytic’s inert arm is not in order. He is not making an effort, but that tranquility of inertia and paralysis is not true peace because it is not born from order.
Thus, the concepts of order and peace are closely intertwined.
The Peace of the Grave
On a tombstone, you can write R.I.P. (Requiescat in pace – rest in peace). This peace refers to the soul but not the body, for the breakdown resulting from inertia and putrefaction is not peace. Since true peace arises from order, there is no true order where there is putrefaction or disintegration but the opposite; putrefaction means disorder.
Concerning a living being, order, peace and tranquility are concepts eminently connected with the gift of life that God gives. That which favors, stimulates and ordains the gift of life is according to peace. Not the rest.
Disorder
By understanding what we mean by order, we can better understand what disorder is.
There are two forms of disorder: counter-order and chaos. The first occurs when you take something, undo its order, and place that same material in the wrong order—a counter-order. For example, someone could empty this microphone and replace its inner parts in reverse order. You would thus have a counter-order, the opposite of an order. This situation of anti-order would still have something in common with order because it would be an order in reverse. The intent was to deform, but there was still a design.
Another form of disorder is chaos. It is no longer a counter-order but something like an explosion. For example, if a bomb explodes at the base of a building, parts of it will fly through the air. A destructive force invades everything, randomly throwing pieces against one another and does not produce a counter-order but producing chaos.
The Modern World’s Disorder
With these notions, we can understand that the contemporary world is in deep disarray. Is this disorder a counter-order or chaos? What would result when it came to an end? Would it become a counter-order or produce an explosion? What kind of disorder would we have?
The answer is that one is moving toward a counter-order. Communism is a typical example of counter-order. A regime with communist characteristics is a counter-regime because it is planned (so there is a design) to reverse the natural order of things.
The socio-economic order of such regimes is a counter-order because it places all things as they should not be. Their culture is a counter-culture, and their civilization is a counter-civilization, albeit sometimes within stable States. They are stable police States because they are maintained by brute force, but one cannot deny that they have some stability.[2]
Peace with Adversaries of Order Is Impossible
From Adam and Eve to the end of the world, there will always be Cains and Abels, and the Cains will chase and kill the Abels. This is indisputable, and the most proven proof is Our Lord Jesus Christ’s life. No one ever possessed nor could imagine greater holiness, greater virtue, better doctrine, more extraordinary miracles, gifts of attraction and personal enlightenment, all characteristics that adorned the Person of Our Lord Jesus Christ. However, what did they do with Him? They crucified Him.
The goodness of the good does not disarm the wickedness of the wicked. The wicked fight to destroy the good and fight to the end because they hate them. Therefore, the idea of peace between the good and the bad is entirely erroneous.
Peace is not just any tranquility. If, in the definition of Saint Augustine, peace is the tranquility of order, we can conclude that in places where there is order, tranquility arises from it, and there is peace. Thus, to achieve peace, you do not need to achieve concord with the adversaries of order or propagators of disorder but to promote order. Promote order, and peace will naturally result. Allow order to be trampled underfoot, and disorder will arise.
Tranquility of Order in Musical Harmony
A beautiful piece of sacred music sung or performed on the organ (or a beautiful and harmonious piece of non-sacred music) is an image of the tranquility of order. In such a piece, the living tranquility of the order is called harmony,[3] the opposite of modern noises and musical dissonances.
The modern spirit has deformed people’s ears and minds to the point that when speaking of tranquility, one has the impression of repose that includes no movement or sound, reducing tranquility to a situation of complete inaction and almost to a vacuum.
War and Peace
Once, there was a clear boundary between war and peace. War was officially declared, and only then did military operations begin. However, the concepts of war and peace have been polluted, mingled and erased so that peace no longer exists: it has become a veiled aspect of war.
Today, there is a peace-war, war-peace mixture, a kind of muddy swamp or puddle where everyone continually fights with everyone and smiles at everyone, but there is no more tranquility, no order, and no formal warfare. It is a kind of pollution of peace by war and of war by peace.
When there is a mixture of peace and war, there is no peace but war. But it is war without the dignity of war because it is a clash of tricks, fallacies, and robbery of people’s minds. It is the war of filth, which is the war we are in.[4]
The pacifist concept of peace is confusion and disorder. It is not true peace, but it is the opposite. That is why these words of the Old Testament apply to Our Lord: “Behold in peace is my bitterness most bitter.” [5] He was at peace in a most bitter bitterness, at the height of bitterness.
It would be an exaggeration to say that one should not appreciate times of tranquility or ask Our Lord for them. At certain times, He allows us not to suffer or struggle. We can and should understand that Divine mercy grants us such epochs in life, but we must not make this the ideal of peace. These are moments of consolation and relaxation, as Our Lord himself had at the house of Lazarus, Mary and Martha, but true peace lies in the tranquility of order. With this in mind, we should pray to Our Lady of Peace.
Happiness and Unhappiness in the Degree of Tranquility or Uneasiness
Someone’s degree of happiness or unhappiness is measured by the intensity of his tranquility or uneasiness. Whoever has everything he needs is tranquil; if he is not, it is because something is lacking. Those who find supreme pleasure in self-attachment are always the most restless and, thus, most unhappy. Granted, they enjoy more, but the boundless and insatiable need to enjoy is the source of supreme unhappiness.
Whoever is insatiable must find a way to control himself, or he is lost. For example, the insatiable urge to drink water is characteristic of an ill person. Drinking water makes him feel more well-being than a normal healthy person. While this is true, deep down, he is unhappy because insatiable cravings for enjoyment are the source of unhappiness.
Will our joy in Heaven be insatiable? No, because it is an endless but also satiated joy. If it were insatiable, one would be unhappy in Heaven.[6]
Otium cum dignitate
Having tranquility with elevation is a kind of bliss on earth. The Romans defined this situation in a very interesting way—otium cum dignitate— [7] a very appropriate formula. For Romans, leisure with dignity was the apex of the human soul in this life. For us, the word dignity is much more expressive than it is for them, as it may relate to the supernatural.
The most beautiful image of this is God walking with Adam in Paradise. [8] For me, it is the most beautiful image. [9]
Drug Addiction and Nervous Diseases
I have realized that there are many tranquil pleasures in life and a series of restless pleasures. Uneasy pleasures are much tastier and contain all the attractions and fallacies of drug addiction. An individual who desires them becomes culpably nervous and ultimately tends to drug addiction. They present themselves as something much tastier, much more delicious than tranquil pleasures, which seem dull to those who get used to the pleasures of “rooting.” After the inebriating moments of “rooting,” everything else seems boring. For those who give themselves to such pleasures, life has paradisiacal islets; the rest are dirty and unpleasant seas to cross.
So we can ask: What pleasures provide man with the best happiness on this Earth: the tranquil or restless ones?
The tranquil and carefree pleasure of a conscience at peace has delights that bring no form of suffering. It results from effort but does not produce pain even though it does not contain something much more pleasant than a restless pleasure. These are two schools of happiness, two schools of pleasure, two schools of Revolution and Counter-Revolution. They are two education systems.
We must not make life a battlefield where we avoid the cross or the battle. On the contrary, we must face it head-on, seeking tranquility within both cross and battle. Getting to the bottom of the sea if need be, but with this delight and tranquility, without rooting. This is much better than habitual “rooting” life, which leaves a person in pieces and never gives real happiness.
These are two schools and two systems. One must choose one or the other; there is no alternative.[10]
Our Lady of Peace
Our Lady of Peace is also Our Lady of Order, who promotes and favors the orderly organization of things. Peace is fundamentally the tranquility of order, which ultimately means living according to God’s will and following God’s Laws to accomplish His plans.[11]
What should we ask Our Lady of Peace when faced with an image of this invocation? We should ask her to profoundly imbibe our souls with the concept and love of true peace, which is the tranquility of order and not the absence of pain and struggle. As a complement, we can ask Our Lady to give us some tranquility and respite arising from circumstances conducive to this order, allowing us to breathe a little.
Notes:
[1] 2-18-81.
[2] 6-21-84.
[3] 1-16-81.
[4] Undated.
[5] Is. 38:17.
[6] 1-22-66.
[7] Expression by Cicero meaning leisure with dignity.
[8] “…the Lord God walking in paradise at the afternoon air…” (Gn 3:8).
[9] 1-6-74.
[10] 3-17-95.
[11] 7-10-65.