I laughed when I first read the definition of peace as the “normal condition…or state of affairs” for a people, group, or nation. There is not a lot of normalcy in the world these days. I wonder if the definition has a parallel to the life our first parents enjoyed (original justice) before the fall into disobedience (original sin). While we can discourse about what is normal and does this change for different times and peoples, we still may admit that we have an idea of what normal is or should be.
Peace is not a life removed from confrontation, tribulation or difficulty. For in the midst of these things, one can be at peace. Conversely, it is not always present when everything is going well and “normal.”
Peace is a feeling that you are loved and cared for by another or others resulting in a calm that things will work themselves out, that you are on the right road, in the right place and will persevere. It’s that sense that we are not alone, that we are in this together, and that we belong to one another. It reaches its pinnacle when the peace comes from God.
Peace is being in relationship with God and how that works itself out daily. It was the constant gift on display in Jesus’ ministry whether restoring one’s health, assuring others that things were fine, quelling cries, fears, demons and storms, teaching acceptance and inclusion, healing division, stressing forgiveness of enemies, entrusting his mother to the beloved disciple and vice versa on Calvary, promising salvation to the repentant thief, and finally accepting peace with self by commending his spirit into his Father’s hands.
After failing to really understand the ministry of Jesus, falling asleep in the Garden, denying and betraying him, running away and not staying with him when needed most, the resurrected Christ reappears in the upper room of locked doors and closed windows, not to extend judgment but peace. “Peace be with you” he offers in John’s gospel showing them his hands and sides, then repeats “peace be with you” and commissions them “as the Father has sent me, so I send you” gifting them with the Holy Spirit to forgive sins. And, blessed are we who have not seen but believe that this gift of peace is offered to us continually in our lives as is the commission we share in extending this peace to one another.
True peace is reconciliation, allowing Christ to forgive us whole and entire. It’s on offer continuously but never forced on us. When accepted into the deep recesses of our hearts and souls, it empowers us to trust implicitly the source of this gift, the Prince of Peace. Peace resides in forgiving, asking for forgiveness and letting go. When we allow the Spirit within to teach us, then we find peace. It may not result in a resolution to a cross or situation, but it will provide the way to live well and faithfully, knowing that God is always with us. God is always present to us. It is we who need to intuit this gift. Time spent in silence and solitude helps us know ourselves, lose our self-righteousness, thus freeing space for peace.
Jesus wants the peace we desire in our homes, schools, places of worship, politics, cities, world and in self. His acceptance at being the “perfect penitent” on the Cross was a once and for all act of love that continues to heal and bring peace. Our “making up for what is lacking on the cross” (Colossians 1:24) is our acceptance of this gift then and now.
One of my favorite Advent passages comes from Isaiah 11 when the shoot will sprout a king with all gifts bringing justice to the nations where the most ferocious animals are at peace with the most vulnerable. There a baby is playing by the viper’s den and a young child puts his hand on the adder’s lair. PEACE. HARMONY. KINSHIP AS GOD INTENDS. Let us long for this realization in our accepting the peace offered daily, sharing it with others, friends ,and foes, and working for peace the world has yet to forge and accept.
Peace I give you, my peace I leave with you. Christ is the only one who can give us true, lasting peace.
Fr. John J. Fisher, OSFS
Rector
Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception
Camden, NJ
