Just a word...Sixth Sunday of Easter...May 22, 2022

Do you know anyone who is not looking for a little peace in their lives?  Jesus says in our gospel today, “I give you my peace; my peace is my gift to you.” One can assume that gift is available to everyone; but if so, then why doesn’t everyone experience said peace? 

            The early church went through periods of not being peaceful, one of which is depicted in our reading from Acts.  Until the compromise of accepting Baptism as the prerequisite for membership instead of circumcision, there were virulent disagreements. Reliance on the Holy Spirit finally settled the matter. Today in our church arguments abound as to who is in the right on several matters of contention, with each side claiming to be the more faithful. Where is the discussion, the discernment, the compromise?

Consider our world, with wars raging, people being killed left and right, each side in each war convinced of their righteousness.  What about the hatred and racism that pits white against black, straight against gay, the list goes on… resulting in such horrific violence as Buffalo and too many other tragedies to name?  And closer to home, the senseless violence that resulted in the death of a high school student; the sadness of families losing parents, or siblings, or children; the cutting short of lives by the demon cancer.  It all seems too much to bear. How are we to have peace in our hearts with all this disagreement, tragedy and sadness around us?

But it seems this peace of Christ doesn’t depend upon the circumstances in which we find ourselves, but is rather an interior way of being. It is not the absence of conflict or hostility or grief; not a Pollyanna-ish floating through life.  This promised peace is something so deep that no sorrow or danger can destroy it.   

Remember that Jesus spoke these words of peace just before his arrest and crucifixion. Maybe his peace came from knowing that he was deeply loved by the Father, as we are; maybe it came from sensing that he, as for all of us, had to let go of something and fall into the arms of God; maybe his peace came when he was guided, as we should be, by what we admire and love instead of by what we disdain; maybe it came as he lovingly considered his friends, and cherished the gifts that came to him, as they do to us, every day of his life. 

Perhaps this gift of peace is not accessed by an on/off switch, but rather develops to the degree that we can look at the world, as Jesus did, with a quiet heart and an open soul, secure in the knowledge that despite much evidence to the contrary, we will have a happy ending.

May the Peace of Christ be with you!