5th Tuesday - Peace be with You!

 

 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you!

During Our Lord’s final discourse, at the Last Supper, Jesus told His disciples, to not let their hearts be troubled, or be afraid. With His words, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you!”, He was preparing them for suffering and temptation in the midst of the tragedy of His crucifixion. And after that horrible Friday, their hearts would be tormented, at the loss of their Master. But on Easter Sunday, He would appear to them, and repeat twice, “Peace be with you”, similar words which He had spoken at the Last Supper.

Peace is something we all desire; but often times, we do not work at obtaining peace. We really do not care much for those things, which truly bring us peace. For example, peace is found in a humble and meek heart. Peace is found with patience. And peace is found in doing God’s will to the best of our ability. But do we really strive to have a humble heart, or strive to be patient, or strive, as hard as we could, to do God’s will?

In order for us to have peace, we need to work at it, we need to direct our full attention, on Jesus Himself, who desires to give us His peace. Our Lord desires that we do not seek anything outside of Him alone, and His holy will.

Sometimes, we may think, I would have peace if I did not suffer, or if I did not endure temptations, but the problem with this, is that one cannot have peace, unless one knows how to suffer and one knows, how to endure temptations, because we can never be free of temptations and sufferings in this life.

Sins and our attraction to sins, cause us to lose peace. Due to sin, within our heart, we are agitated, and long to have peace with God, with our self, and with others. So what shall we do to obtain peace?

We must seek the face of Christ, we must long to be one with Him, and keep our attention on Him. We must offer our whole heart to the will of God, not seeking the pleasures of this world, whether they are great or little. Peace can be found in the midst of turmoil, suffering and temptations by living one’s state of life to the best of their ability, seeking to grow in holiness and virtue, being reconciled with God in the sacrament of penance, and peace is most perfectly found in the Eucharist, where we come in contact with our beloved, where we touch His wounds and gaze upon His face, resting within His Heart, as He rests within our heart in Holy Communion.

Through the Blessed Virgin Mary’s Immaculate Heart, may She obtain for us, the peace we desire. And now, as we prepare our heart for union with Peace itself, Jesus in Holy Communion, listen in the silence of the heart. Perhaps when we receive Him in the Eucharist, Our Blessed Lord will say, “Do not let your hearts be troubled, do not be afraid!” “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you!