"Peace be with you."
These four words were spoken by Jesus as he appeared to his apostles and
followers after the resurrection. As
today's gospel tells us, when they first saw Jesus they were afraid; they thought he was a ghost. So he tells them,
"Peace be with you." I love these comforting words that Christ
utters but they are somewhat
surprising. Surprising because it seems
like he should have scolded the apostles for abandoning him in his hour of
need. It would have made a lot more sense for Jesus to take them to task
for forgetting everything he had taught them. To reprimand them for their fear and unbelief which led them
to hide in a locked room somewhere in Jerusalem. That would have made sense and
I am pretty sure that is what I would have done if I were in the Lord's shoes.
But instead he says "Peace be with you."
Growing up, as the oldest of fourteen children, I learned to value peace a
great deal. The reason of course, was that it was a rare commodity. Having ten girls and four boys in a small, crowded house meant there
was no shortage of conflict between siblings. Peace was something
that my parents, and even us kids really enjoyed, even if it was rare. Peace
meant that everything was in order, that everyone
was behaving respectfully, and that people's priorities were in order.
Without a doubt, Jesus' favorite word after his resurrection is
"peace." It is almost always the first word on his lips when he
appears to his apostles. But this divine peace was not just meant for the apostles
and friends who Jesus visited after
his resurrection. No. Jesus wants all of us to experience
peace. Today at this Mass and at each Mass that is celebrated, we
hear these same words, spoken to us in the here-and-now of our lives. Right
before we receive the Eucharist the I will say: "Lord Jesus Christ, you
said to your apostles: I leave you peace, my peace I give you.” Christ's peace
is the antidote to most problems of modern society: stress, discouragement,
anger, competition, and anxiety. We have all
been affected by these problems. As our friendship with the resurrected
Lord grows deeper, we are gradually healed of those problems, because he
brings us his three-fold peace.
First, peace for our mind. When we
look at his wounds, which he still bears in his glorified body, we know that
his forgiveness is everlasting; once he forgives our sins, we are truly
forgiven; our conscience can be at rest. Second,
peace for our heart. When we see the spike marks in his hands and feet, we know
that we are loved with an undying, unconditional, personal, determined love -
Christ's love. Third, peace for our
soul. Christ is alive, and he is ruling and expanding an everlasting Kingdom,
and he has invited each one of us to help him by building up the Church. We
have work to do that matters. We have work to do that is worthwhile and
will satisfy our thirst for a meaningful life. The peace of the resurrected
Christ is what we really need in our
lives.
We all want to experience this peace more
deeply - peace of mind, peace of heart, and peace of soul. Christ wants the same
thing for us - that's why he
suffered, died, and rose from the
dead. But if peace is what we want,
why do we still find ourselves so easily overrun by stress, discouragement, anger,
competition, and anxiety? Many obstacles can block the flow of Christ's peace
in our lives; the most obvious obstacle is
sin. Sometimes we fall into sin out of weakness. Those falls are easy to
confess and repent of. But other times we allow subtle habits of sin to take
root in our lives. For example, we refuse to accept some part of Church
teaching on faith or morals - like Christ's real presence in the Eucharist,
abortion, or artificial contraception. Sure, we find plenty of reasons to
justify this resistance - all the arguments we hear on the news or prevailing
popular opinion. But in reality, to reject official Church teaching on these
issues and others is to reject Christ's saving truth. Subtle habits of sin
can also take other forms; like slacking off in our personal
responsibilities - doing just
enough to get by, but not really giving our best; or wasting inordinate
amounts of time on hobbies, entertainment, or gossip.
But I believe, in our day, one of the
greatest dangers to our souls is our mouth. St John reminds us in today's
Second Reading that unless we are following Christ's commandments, God's truth
cannot take root in our souls. And Christ's main commandment was that we love
our neighbors as ourselves. Far too often we break that commandment with our
words. Our mass media culture encourages us to be careless with what we say -
whether face to face, with cell phones, or through email, texting, or tweeting.
Since our newscasters and bloggers spend much of their time judging and
criticizing people, our popular culture has come to accept that as normal.
But while this behavior may be
normal in our society, it is not acceptable for those who call themselves
Christians. We are called to love our neighbors as ourselves, and our neighbors
include politicians, clergy, movie stars, relatives
or the person one office over. And that means we should not go around talking carelessly about their struggles,
failings, faults, and sins. We certainly wouldn't want someone to do that to
us! As Christians, we are called to a higher standard.
We all desire peace; in our hearts, in our homes, and in our world. Even
though the goal of promoting and
attaining peace on earth may seem impossible in today's society, it is not
beyond the power of God's grace. We must pray for this grace and make use of
it to fix ourselves first. Each and every one of us in Church today
must work to eliminate sin and hypocrisy from our own lives so that we can
experience that same peace offered to the apostles by the risen Christ. Once we have felt that peace and lived
it, then we can share it with others. Unlock
those parts of your hearts that are closed to Christ through sin and
indifference and allow yourself to hear those beautiful words of the gospel
today, "Peace be with you."
