True and Lasting Peace

Homily for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year C
Acts 15.1-2, 22-29 Psalm 67 Revelation 21.10-14, 22-23 John 14.23-29

It’s graduation time for many colleges this weekend. Time to celebrate academic degrees and pray for jobs in which those degrees can be used. It’s also prom season for high schools, the last great celebration before final exams and summer jobs and musings about what the end of high school will bring. And of course it’s Mother’s Day weekend, when we honor everything that is great and loving about the women who gave us life and love and nurturing care. These weeks are always a busy time of year, a time when we get caught up in reflecting on the past and wondering about the future; a time of transition. And it’s also the time of flowers and cards and gifts – those visual symbols of our love or congratulations or respect. But it’s a different kind of gift we hear about in today’s liturgy.

As he prepares to leave his disciples, Jesus gives them a promise – he promises to give them peace. It is certainly a gift that could be used by anyone graduating from college or high school this year; it is a gift that any mother would long to have – whether in her own family or for the world as a whole. But what is this peace that Jesus promises to give? We often think of peace as the absence of conflict – and that is a kind of peace, a peace that the world tries to give. But true and lasting peace is a lot more than that. It is first of all a presence – the presence of the risen Christ. The peace that comes from Christ helps us know in the depths of our hearts that everything will work out well, that God will always take care of us. The peace that comes from Christ guides us to the calm and comfort that can be found even in the midst of noise and turbulence. The peace that comes from Christ helps us accept whatever direction our lives take, knowing that we are not alone. The peace that comes from Christ keeps our eyes fixed on the kingdom of God – both here on earth and in the life to come.

We’re going to face a lot of trouble and heartache in our lives – that’s a given. As a society, we continue to face war and terrorism and famine and struggle – from Times Square to our own backyards. The mothers among us worry that the broken relationships in their families often outnumber the ones that are structured the way we think – or we hoped – that they would be. This year’s college graduates are in for a long, hard road to find meaningful employment and the life that they have been waiting for. The world will try to get rid of all of those problems – and it will have some success. But most of the time, it won’t last. And so into this world enters Jesus Christ and his gift of peace. The peace that he gives us fills the voids and empty holes of our hearts with his presence. With Christ here among us, the troubles of life are much easier to bear; with Christ here among us, we have hope for the future; with Christ here among us, we know that God will take care of us each moment of every day. That’s what peace is about. That’s really what we need today and every day. There’s the peace that the world gives – a good peace, but a temporary absence of conflict. And there’s the peace that God gives – a loving presence at every moment of our lives – a peace that lasts forever because Christ will always be with us.