Peace, it seems, is an increasingly rare commodity.
According to the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), 61 conflicts were recorded in 36 countries last year — the highest number of state-based armed conflicts in more than seven decades.
On Aug. 22 — the Feast of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary — Pope Leo XIV called for a day of prayer and fasting for peace, especially in Ukraine and the Holy Land.
The Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, D.C., fulfilled the pontiff’s request with a Mass that day featuring specially themed music, Scripture readings, and messages of both resilient hope and prayerful action.
Father Isaac Sagastume — a parochial vicar at the cathedral — opened his homily with a reminder that the brutality of war can often seem far removed from our daily lives, sanitized by distance.
“We see what is happening in the world — from the newspaper, from the TV, radio; whatever means you use for media,” said Father Sagastume. “We see the tragedies that happen. And we say, ‘Well, that’s sad.’ Then we go back to our lives (perhaps thinking), ‘What a pity. Let me work on my vacation that I’ve planned for a month.’”
“That’s not bad; it’s not guilt I'm trying to give,” he said. “It’s a reality sometimes that, greater than weapons of war, many times what is worse is indifference.”
Father Sagastume said Christians are equipped with “a very great tool: grace. A weapon, as we may call it.”
He pointed out how Mother Teresa — who in her travels crossed many borders and airport security checkpoints — was ironically asked more than once if she had any weapons on her person. She would sometimes playfully but sincerely answer ‘yes,’ indicating her rosary beads.
“She was serious,” explained Father Sagastume. “She wasn’t kidding.”
Turning to Scripture from the Mass — Isaiah 9:2-7 — Father Sagastume said he wanted its context to be clear.
“This is not just poetry from the time of the prophet Isaiah — it is a message, very important for all of us today, which comes as a message of hope to people who live in oppression; who live in despair,” he emphasized. “Because the prophet Isaiah is speaking to a world that knew the cruelty of conflict; that knew suffering; that knew what it was like to be outside of where you belonged.”
“And yet the prophet dares to speak of joy; of light; of peace. Why?” asked Father Sagastume, adding, “Because the Lord is saying one very important thing in this passage: God has not abandoned His people. God has not forsaken His people.”
Noting 2025 is a hope-themed Jubilee Year, he admitted “many times, the more we see, the more we look around, the more we feel the less hope there is.”
Nonetheless, noted Father Sagastume, “in the middle of all this, the Lord tells us a light has shone. For to us, a child is given, a Prince of Peace. And it’s interesting the image that the Church gives us is, He comes as a child, in the arms in of His mother — and we call Him the Prince of Peace.”
The priest proposed an answer to why conflicts seem endless.
“Why does man seek war? Why does man seek vengeance? Why does man seek dominance? Why does man find himself in this vicious cycle? It’s when God is out of the picture,” he reflected. “The moment sin enters into the world, Cain looks at Abel and says, ‘You're a threat to me.’ The moment sin enters into the world, the other one is no longer my friend, myself, but my enemy. The moment sin enters the world, immediately division enters.”
“What is the key (to finding peace)?” he asked. “It's Christ. It’s Christ.”
He then gave his listeners an assignment with respect to those experiencing war.
“Our mission right now, is very simple,” said Father Sagastume. “Our mission is to pray. To pray that they may have a glimpse of hope. That they may experience Christ; that they may see Christ in the middle of all this.”
“That's why it’s important, brothers and sisters,” he concluded, “may we never resign ourselves to war; may we be builders of this peace.”
Following the Mass, a woman who is a parishioner of St. Matthew’s commented, “I’m Polish by birth. Ukraine is just 100 miles — the borders — from the city where I was born. So this resonates with me.”
Also after the Mass, a man said he had a special reason for attending.
“Today is actually the one year anniversary of me being able to fully quit pornography,” he shared. “And so today is that day, and I came to Mass. It’s very fortunate, or auspicious, that today's a feast day of Our Lady, the Queen of Peace — because this has given me a lot of peace in my personal life. There are no coincidences in God’s grace.”
In another interview after the Mass, Msgr. W. Ronald Jameson, the cathedral’s rector, said he found in Mary’s feast day an opportunity to pray for an end to war, and to seek her help as the Queen of Peace.
“It’s an appropriate time to turn to her, and to say, ‘Mary, we know that you're asking your Son for help — we need peace,’” said Msgr. Jameson. “And I think this was a sign, if you will, for the people, (that) the Church is doing this, we all need to pray together. We all need to put our own hearts together and to say, ‘Lord Jesus, help us, give us peace.’”
