December
17

On Earth Peace.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, Glory in the highest to God, and on earth peace, good will among men. (Luke 2:13-14)

Peace in the heavens is the Divine inmostly affecting with blessedness everything good there, and and from this is every joy of heaven… Because the peace of heaven is the Divine inmostly affecting with blessedness the good itself in angels, it can be clearly perceived by them only in the delight of their hearts when they are in the good of their life, in the pleasure with which they hear truth that agrees with their good, and in gladness of mind when they perceive the conjunction of good and truth. From this it flows into all the acts and thoughts of their life, and there presents itself as joy, even in outward appearance. (Heaven and Hell 286, 288)

There are two states that man must enter upon and pass through, when from being natural he is becoming spiritual. The first state is called Reformation, and the second Regeneration. The first state is formed by means of truths, which must be truths of faith, and through these he looks to charity; the second state is formed by means of the goods of charity, and by these he enters into the truths of faith. Or what is the same, the first is a state of thought from the understanding, and the second a state of love from the will. When this latter state begins and is progressing, a change takes place in the mind. The mind undergoes a reversal, the love of the will then flowing into the understanding, acting upon it and leading it to think in accord and agreement with its love; and in consequence, so far as the good of love comes to act the first part and the truths of faith the second, man is spiritual and is a new creature. And he then acts from charity and speaks from faith; he feels the good of charity and perceives the truth of faith; and he is then in the Lord, and in peace, and thus regenerate. (True Christian Religion 571)

For the universal truth of all is that the Lord united His Human to the Divine Itself, and that from this man has peace and salvation. And it is also a universal truth that man must be conjoined with the Lord, in order that he may have peace and salvation, and this is effected by means of regeneration. (Arcana Coelestia 10730:3)

[Peace,] is what is central to every form of happiness and bliss. The ancients therefore used the common saying ‘Peace to you’, meaning, May all be well. (Arcana Coelestia 5662.3)

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