My Peace I Give to You

My peace I give to you. 

Recently at the end of Mass for the beginning of his ministry as Pope, Pope Leo invited all Christians to be enlightened by the Holy Spirit, together to build a Church:

“…founded on God’s love, a sign of unity, a missionary Church that opens its arms to the world, proclaims the word, allows itself to be made ‘restless’ by history, and becomes a leaven of harmony for humanity.”

I could not help but think back to the opening words of the Confessions of St. Augustine, when he said that word too: “restless” – after all, Pope Leo belongs to a religious community, the Order of St. Augustine.

“…for You have made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.”

In this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus says those words that we hear every time we go to Mass, just before Communion:

“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you”.

Very often, people hear that the most important “sign” when it comes to finding one’s vocation, one’s calling, God’s will for your life, is – “peace”.  But speaking of the “peace” He is going to give to us, Jesus also says this: “I do not give to you as the world gives.”

The peace that the world gives is external – the absence of conflict, tension, stress, etc.  We definitely need that kind of peace sometimes.  Sometimes what we need is a break.  But Jesus came to give us more than a break, He came to give us peace.  The peace that Jesus gives us is deeper, and it can exist even when external peace is not available to us right now for whatever reason.  Jesus’ peace actually springs from that inner restlessness, that absence of rest, which awakens in us a desire for more – a desire for the peace that Jesus is offering us.  And though we will not completely possess it in this life, we know what it is like to be headed towards it, to have even a brief taste of it, we know when we are on the right track – pursuing our calling, our vocation – because we find ourselves strangely restless, and yet, at peace.