If God were to enter your
home, what do you think would be his greeting? --- yes you got it right, He will say ,”peace to this house”. That’s
what He taught his disciples: “when you enter a house say “Peace to this house,
if a peaceable person lives there, your peace will rest on him, but if not, it
will return to you”.
In 1980 a national
newspaper carried an unusual story. A man who returned to his car parked in a
big shopping mall found a note on the front seat.
Dear Sir/Madam,
I truly intended to steal your car until I noticed the
“Peace be with you” –sticker. This made me pause and reflect. If I steal your
car, you would not be at peace, and on the other hand, I felt I would not be at
peace too, for this is my first job.
So peace be to you and to me. Drive safely and next time
lock your car..
A
would be thief
That unusual story
illustrates the unusual intentions of Jesus to the 12 disciples. He said, “Into
whatever house you enter, first say: Peace to this house -- if a peaceable
person lives there, your peace will rest on him, but if not, it will return to
you!"
Applying that to our story,
we see that the Peace be with you sticker in the car extended the peace of Jesus to the would be
thief. He was a peaceable man, and the peace of Jesus rested on him. That raises a question.
What do you mean by the “peace of Christ? What are the ingredients that make it
up?
When the Bible uses the
word peace, it uses it in different senses.
1. Military
sense – to indicate an absence of war between nations. (If you want peace,
prepare for war) in this sense we say
–“The nations are at peace”.
2. Personal
sense – to indicate a feeling of personal well-being – so we say, we are at
peace with ourselves – health, money, success, etc.
3. Religious
sense – to indicate a right relationship between God and ourselves. We proclaim
, we are at peace with God”.
4. The
Bible uses the word peace to indicate a state in which everyone on earth is at
peace with God, neighbor and self. This is what we mean by the “peace of
Christ”.
This is what Jesus meant
when He used; "Peace I leave you, my peace I give to you." (John 14:27). The
priest recalls the words at mass. This peace is nothing else than the
REALIZATION OF GOD’S KINGDOM ON EARTH, just like the Lord’s prayer, we
pray, Thy kingdom come. It meant , we make God’s presence on earth .
This is the peace Jesus
intended his disciples to carry into the world. In our time, it is the peace
that Jesus instructs us to carry into our world today. We are to be the
instruments of Jesus by which His
peace be extended to every individual
in every nation on earth.
In the Pacific Ocean when
winds of a tropical storm exceed 75 miles per hour – it’s called typhoon. If
it’s in the Atlantic Ocean it’s called hurricane. (HUMORS!) The interesting part of a
hurricane is its eyes – it is the very center. Even though the winds are
roaring around at the rate of 100 or 150 miles per hour, the eye
at the center of the hurricane is absolutely calm. There is no wind
blowing at all. If you stand in the eye of a hurricane and look up, you will
see blue sky and the sun shining.
The eye of the hurricane is
a same image Jesus intended the Lord’s supper to be, as we gather to share it
each Sunday. All around us are storms that rage in our world. People shout
,scream , groups wail and lash at each other ; victims battle and destroy one
another, families exterminate each other.
At the Lord’s supper, however,
all is calm. We look up and see only
the sky and the shining sun.Wwe are in
the eye of the hurricane. We enjoy the peace of Christ.
Jesus gave us this peace
not to remain permanently, but to refuel it temporarily. Jesus never intended
that we remain in the eye of the hurricane . For at the closing of the Mass we
hear the priest admonish, “GO, The
mass has ended!” He intended that we go out again into the storm – and be an
eye of peace amidst the storm of our world. He intended that we share with the
rest of the world the peace of Christ, which we have experienced in the
Eucharist. He intended that we be instruments by which the peace of Christ would spread to the rest of
the world.
And the Bible speaks of
four(4) kinds of peace; Military: peace among victims, peace within ourselves,
peace with God, and the peace of Christ – that is the state in which everyone
is at peace with God, neighbor and self – this is the reality of God’s kingdom
on earth.
Bring Jesus to people: How?
St. Francis of Assissi gives a
practical guide:
When there is Hatred – sow
love
In times of Injury –
pardon
When there is Doubt – have faith
When in Despair –
cling to hope
When in Darkness –
give light
In times of Sadness –
be joyful
And to think less of
ones’self so that you do not want
so much to be consoled,but to console,
to be
understood as to understand,to be loved as to love .
and believes that it is in giving – we receive and in dying – we
are born to eternal life.