"...and on earth peace to people of good will."

[dandingo]

While saying this in Mass during the Gloria, it made me think.

Luke 2:14 states, “Glory to God in the highest; and on earth peace to men of good will.”

Does this mean only peace to people of good will?

 

[R_C]

Isn’t the Gloria supposed to be omitted during Advent?

Anyways, the Gloria in excelsis Deo is also known as the Greater Doxology, and is very ancient (some track it back to 17 centuries ago). It literally says:

et in terra pax homínibus bonae voluntátis.

As you properly figured out, this is a reference to the apparition of the multitude of the heavenly hosts to the shepherds on the Nativity, and their song (Lk 2:14, Biblia Sacra Vulgata, Douay-Rheims):

Gloria in altissimis Deo, et in terra pax in hominibus bonae voluntatis.

Glory to God in the highest; and on earth peace to men of good will.

So there can be no doubt about the wording. Think about it: do you think people of evil will should be at peace?

 

[Shin]

'Solomon, who tasted to satiety all the pleasures of the world and found them bitter, voiced his disillusionment thus: “But this also is vanity and vexation of spirit.” “A fool,” says the Holy Spirit, “is changed as the moon; but a holy man continueth in wisdom as the sun.” The fool, that is, the sinner, is as changeable as the moon, which today waxes and tomorrow wanes; today he laughs, tomorrow he cries; today he is meek as a lamb, tomorrow cross as a bear. Why? Because his peace of mind depends on the prosperity or the adversity he meets; he changes with the changes in the things that happen to him. The just man is like the sun, constant in his serenity, no matter what betides him. His calmness of soul is founded on his union with the will of God; hence he enjoys unruffled peace.

This is the peace promised by the angel of the Nativity: “And on earth, peace to men of good will.” Who are these “men of good will” if not those whose wills are united to the infinitely good and perfect will of God? “The good, and the acceptable, and the perfect will of God.”’

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori

Without good will there is no peace.

 

[1AugustSon7]

While saying this in Mass during the Gloria, it made me think.

Luke 2:14 states, “Glory to God in the highest; and on earth peace to men of good will.”

Does this mean only peace to people of good will?

I was actually one of the agitators for this change. The problem is that the previous rendering was arguably inappropriate because it could easily be interpreted -not only as possibly something like a falsification of scripture- but moreover a contradiction to it, because Proverbs, for example, and many of the Psalms, are full of prayers that outright deny peace to evil men- even begging God to deny them it. There is an old English maxim or proverb that goes something like: “no rest for the wicked.” The idea being that those who effectively sow injustice and iniquity do not deserve the peace they vitiate or even sometimes destroy: i.e., we are not to give quarter to scoundrels and enemies of even man’s just (or civil) peace, or otherwise reward them until they relent or cease; otherwise we might be guilty of helping them sow discord and evil among men, which results ultimately in violence and even wars.

We do not pray that God reward the evil for their evil ways; we do pray and know that God grants his peace to the righteous and, as the scripture says, “men of goodwill,” which of course is understood of everyone (e.g., women and children too) of goodwill.

This angelic message, then, is a great comfort: it means God is on the side of the just and all who mean well to their neighbours, even rewarding them for it.

 

[PJM]

=dandingo;10140223]While saying this in Mass during the Gloria, it made me think.

Luke 2:14 states, “Glory to God in the highest; and on earth peace to men of good will.”

Does this mean only peace to people of good will?

Here is Haydokcs catholic Commentaries teaching:
http://haydock1859.tripod.com/id66.html

"Ver. 14. And on earth, peace to men of good will.I had translated, peace to men of his good will, looking upon the sense to be, that a peace and reconciliation were offered, and given to men from the good will and mercy of God. The ordinary Greek copies altogether favour this exposition. And Bellarmine (lib. ii, de Verb. D. chap. 11.) is so convinced of this sense, that he brings it for an instance of one of those places, in which the true sense of the Latin is to be found by the Greek text; which is many times true: but Bellarmine might not take notice, that several of the best Greek manuscripts are conformable to the Latin Vulgate, and have peace to men of good will; as it is also expounded by divers of the ancient Fathers, that peace is offered to men of good will, to those who by the grace of God are disposed to believe and obey the Gospel-doctrine. And upon this, having advised with others, I did not think fit to change the former Rheimish translation. (Witham) — The reason why the will is designated in preference to any other power of the soul, is, because the will moves the rest; consequently the goodness or badness of an action depends chiefly on the will. By this also the angels wished to shew, that the peace which Christ came to bring into the world, was the internal peace of our souls, of which the external peace that subsisted under Augustus, was a figure. (Nicholas of Lyra) — Peace is made on earth, since human nature, before an enemy of God, is now reconciled and united to him by his incarnation. (Theophylactus) — In this hymn of the angels there is a remarkable difference observable in some of the Greek and Latin copies. The latter have it according to this text, men of good will; the former, good will among men, or to men. Eudokia, signifies the gratuitous benevolence of God towards man. So that this sentence seems divided into three parts: glory to God, peace on earth, and good will to men. (Jansenius, conc. Evang.) — The birth of Christ giveth not peace of mind, or salvation, but to such as are of good will, because he worketh not our good against our wills, but with the concurrence of our will"

This too is my limted understanding

 

[Arizona_Mike]

There is a lengthy review of this phrase in the Pope’s new book on the infancy narratives, BTW. Pope Benedict says a better translation would be “peace be with whom He (God) is pleased.”

The Pope says this is the same phrase which the voice from Heaven speaks at Jesus’ baptism, “This is my son, in whom I am well pleased.” And God is pleased because Jesus lives completely oriented towards the Father. So those who are so anointed on the night of Jesus’ birth are those who share the attitude of the Son - those who are conformed to Christ.

Smart man, our Pope is.