Colossians 3:15
And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful.
“Peace I give you. My peace I leave you.” These are the words we hear every day in the Mass. They were spoken by Jesus, not in an Alpine meadow filled with tweeting birds and the music of a running stream in the background, but in the Upper Room after the Last Supper, when Jesus was fully aware that he was only a few hours away from betrayal, denial, a kangaroo court, scourging and death by crucifixion. Shortly after he spoke these words, he would sweat blood and beg to be spared. So what is this “peace” that Jesus spoke of? The great poet Dante said that in God’s will is our peace. Jesus said to the Father, “Nevertheless, not my will but yours be done.” The peace of Christ is a peace that is deeper than pain, that transforms pain. It is not “detached”. It does not pretend that pain and death “don’t matter.” Rather, it is a peace that outlasts these things and finds in the love of God the power to find life through them and to redeem them. That is why it is a peace that the world cannot give. Jesus, who lived the will of the Father, came forth from the tomb in a peace so profound that it changed the whole of Creation. Today, enter into the deep peace of God by saying yes to his will.
