The Peace of the Resurrected Christ is What We Need

When you read the resurrection accounts in all the gospels, it seems that Jesus’ favourite word is ‘peace’. He uses it as a greeting in nearly all his encounters with his disciples. Such as in today’s gospel.

So why is peace so important to Jesus after his resurrection? Why is that his favourite way of greeting his disciples?

Well, he knows we need it. Of all the gifts Christ offers us, peace is the one that it seems we are in most need of most of the time.

A lack of peace is endemic in our world: just think of all those places currently at war or civil unrest. But a lack of peace is not just something we experience out there. We’ve all been afflicted and affected by the diseases of modern, secular culture: stress, depression and anxiety. We all know what it’s like to try to put on a brave face while inside we’re crumbling, to pretend we’ve got it altogether, when in reality were running as fast as we can just to keep still. We all know what’s its like to see something terrible and frightening on our horizon and prefer to just pretend it isn’t there or that we don’t need to face it.

The closer we join ourselves to the resurrected Christ the more we are healed of those diseases because the peace that Jesus brings us is three-fold.

First, Jesus brings peace to our minds. Any time anxious thoughts arise that we’re not worthy, or that Jesus will judge us harshly for our sins, we only need to look at his hands and see the holes made by the nails. That’s all the proof we need: we’ve already received his gift of forgiveness and he’s already paid the price of our sins.

Second, Jesus brings peace to our hearts. All of us carry wounds from unhealthy relationships and the hurts we have caused others, or which they have caused us. All of us question at one time or another if we are truly lovable, or if we’re really capable of love. Again, we need only look at the wounds that love caused in the hands of Jesus. He stretched out his hands and endured the passion of the cross precisely because he loves you, because in his estimation you’re worth it! The cross is the sign of Christ’s complete, total, unconditional love for each and everyone one of us.

Third, Jesus brings peace to our souls. Jesus is risen from the dead! He is alive! Death couldn’t keep him chained up and the grave couldn’t claim him for ever! He destroyed death and in doing so he’s given us the promise of eternal life. He’s invited us to work with him here and now in building up his kingdom. He invites us to dedicate our time, our talents and our treasure in works that will satisfy our souls: work that will bring eternal life to ourselves and to others.

So, why does Jesus keep offering his peace to his disciples? Because he knows how much we need it!

St Ammon Comes to the Rescue

The closer we draw to Jesus, the more deeply we can drink from the wells of his peace and the more able we are to face the storms that life will inevitably throw at us. Christ’s peace, if we want, can be an immovable anchor for us, a source of hope.

Every time we read about one of the martyrs, that truth is brought home to us again because they lived that truth and died professing it.

One of the lesser-known saints, at least for us in the West, is Saint Ammon and his four companions, who were martyred in the third century.

The five of them were Roman soldiers in the service of the Governor of Alexandria, in Egypt.
The Emperor Decius had started a fierce persecution against Christians who would not sacrifice to the Roman gods.

Ammon and his companions were secret believers, but one day they found themselves on duty during the trial of a group of prisoners accused of being Christian.

The questioning and the pressure on them was unrelenting, and a few were beginning to waver in the faith.

The five soldiers saw what was happening and were afraid that their brothers and sisters in Christ were going to break, deny their faith and put at risk their eternal salvation.

So they started to do everything they could to surreptitiously encourage the accused. They made gestures, nodded, pleaded to them with their eyes - pretty much anything they could without putting themselves in danger of being found out too.

Unfortunately,  they weren’t subtle enough and the judge noticed.

He asked them what was going on and to a man, the five declared themselves to be Christians.

You can imagine the uproar in the courtroom, the Romans were scandalised, but the prisoners were were greatly encouraged.

In the end both they, St Ammon and his four companions paid the ultimate price for their faith in Jesus rather than deny him.

How could they do that? Well, their peace came from Christ, he was their anchor and they held onto him to the very end.

Plugging up our Leaky Souls

Ask anyone and they’ll tell you that they want to experience deeper peace in their lives - peace of mind, heart and soul. How do we get it though? That’s the problem… or so it seems.

You see, Christ wants the same thing for us, he wants to give us that peace, which is why he suffered, died and rose again.

But if that’s true, why does stress, anxiety and discouragement still seem to have so much free reign in our lives?

Well, we too often put up obstacles which frustrate the flow of Christ’s peace in our lives.

One of the least obvious, but certainly most insidious ways we do that is with our mouths.

In today’s second reading, St John tells us that unless we follow Christ’s commandments then God’s truth can’t take root in our souls. And Christ’s first and greatest commandment is to love God and our neighbours as ourselves.

The way most of us break that commandment most often, is not by what we do or don’t do, but by what we say.

Character assassination is all over the media nowadays. So many so-called ‘influencers’ seem to go around looking for the latest and  person or opinion to be scandalised by. They dig up dirt about people’s past indiscretions and then join in a chorus of criticism. And it happens so often that it’s now become normal.

However, for us Christians that can never be normal. Loving our neighbour as ourselves means loving politicians, famous people, people we work with, family members, strangers on the bus, even your parish priest! It means we don’t go round taking delight or talking about their struggles, faults and failings or their sins.

Outright lying about people is the sin of calumny or slander. But unnecessarily disclosing - or delighting in - their weaknesses is equally sinful.

If we’ve fallen into the habit of using our words to break down people, rather than build them up, then it means we have a leak in our souls, and Christ’s peace will be spilling out.

Each time we hear his word and receive holy communion we have the chance to renew our hope in him and to ask him again for the grace to receive - and hopefully - keep his peace.