6th Sunday - Peace I Give to You

 

(REVISED DUE TO ERRORS--MY APOLOGIES) During Our Lord’s final discourse, at the Last Supper, Jesus told His disciples, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you! Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.”

He was preparing them for suffering, shock, and temptations in the midst of the tragedy of His crucifixion. And after that horrible Friday, their hearts were tormented and troubled, at the loss of their Master.

When a tragedy occurs, just like the Apostles, we can lose our peace, and our hearts can become troubled. The shock can cause us to doubt and be afraid.

But, on Easter Sunday, Jesus appeared to the Apostles, knowing they were troubled and afraid. Twice Jesus said, “Peace be with you”.

All of us were shocked to hear about Nate Dold. His death caused our hearts to be troubled. Our hearts and prayers go out to Paul and DeeDee and his brothers, sisters and family.

Jesus, as God, knows the future and I believe the Lord gave us that Eucharistic Festival and Adoration Under the Stars to prepare us for the tragedy we are now going through. During the Eucharistic Festival, we had peace in our hearts adoring Jesus in the Eucharistic Adoration, and we enjoyed hamburgers and hot dogs together as a parish.

Not everyone was able to attend, but those who did attend were channels of grace to fellow parishioners and our community and the whole world.

Jesus in the Eucharist reminds us, He is with us when there is calm, when the wind doesn’t blow, when the weather is beautiful. But He is also with us when there is turmoil and difficulty and when there are tornadoes and storms.

Jesus gives us peace. Our Lord said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.”

Sometimes, we may think, we will have peace, if we did not suffer, or didn’t have temptations, if there are no storms, if there are no difficulties. And we think we will have peace if our relationships with others were always good.

Jesus reminded the apostles, “Not as the world gives, do I give it to you.” Worldly peace is false peace, such as we will only have peace if we get an A on test, or if we win the game or the championship. We will only have peace if we get the promotion. We will only have peace if everyone in the family gets along. Worldly peace is really false peace. It lacks peace in Jesus.

Tranquility, freedom from disturbance, freedom from suffering and pain, and harmony in personal relationships with family and friends is really a description of heaven. We live in a fallen world. There will always be disunity, suffering, temptations, pain and tragedy.

If we want peace, we find it in Jesus, who dwells within our soul.

We cannot have peace, unless one knows how to suffer and one knows, how to endure temptations, how to endure difficulties, because we can never be free of temptations or sufferings or difficulties in this life.

Peace is in living a life of virtue. Peace can be found in the midst of suffering. Peace in times of turmoil. Peace in imperfect relationships and peace can be found when things don’t go our way because if we have Jesus, no matter what goes on, we will have peace.

I have a friend who is nun in a monastery. She once told me that no matter what is going on in the world, or in her community, she has peace, because she hides in the Heart of Jesus.

This is where the Cross comes in. We embrace the cross. We lift high the cross. We keep our eyes of the Cross. And if we do, we have peace no matter the difficulty or hardship or tragedy. Through the Cross and resurrection, there is peace. We can have peace of soul despite storms, loss, suffering and diffculties.

St. Paul’s words give us encouragement. He said, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?...No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

I would like to share a comment from a teammate wrestler of Nate. The comment was posted on the Birzer Funeral Home obituary.

The young man said, “When I first started ---wrestling, I admired the way (Nate) treated the kids on the team. He’s like a big brother to them. I quickly became one of the kids who looked up to him even though he’s younger than me. Back in Blackwell, Oklahoma, where we wrestled together, he lost one of his matches, and I asked him a question “how do you not get so upset-- when you lose because I get really (angry)? And his response sticks with me.

(Nate said), “I guess I just realized it’s just a sport, and you’re supposed to let your anger out on the mat, not be mad when walking off of it.”

By these words we can see that Nate had an inner peace and not a worldly peace. Nate embraced the cross of the virtue of self-control. He knew true success is when one has peace of heart, and not a worldly success, with false peace.

Therefore, if we have the peace of Jesus, it doesn’t matter if we win or lose. It doesn’t matter if there are storms or difficulties.

At every Mass, after the consecration, when the bread and wine are changed into the body and blood of Jesus, the priest says: “Lord Jesus Christ, who said to Your Apostles, Peace I leave you, my peace I give you, look not on our sins but on the faith of your Church, and graciously grant her peace and unity in accordance with your will. Who live and reign forever and ever.” At Holy Mass and in Eucharistic Adoration, we turn to Our resurrected Lord for peace and He gives it to us when there is calm, but He also gives peace in times of turmoil.

May we embrace the cross of suffering, the cross of imperfect relationships, the cross of pain, the cross of practicing virtue, the cross of heartache and unite our crosses to the Cross of Jesus and Our Lord will stand before us and say,

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you! Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid”, because I am with you and will help carry your Cross of your pain, of suffering, of loss and failure.” “Keep your eyes on me. Keep your eyes on the Cross. Keep your eyes on heaven, where there is no pain or suffering or loss, but where all the faithful departed rest in peace.”

All of us are sinners and we have attachments to sin and so many of us would need purgatory after death, to purify our soul, so it go to heaven unstained.

I would like to encourage our young people to light a candle for Nate. By lighting the candle, you are making the commitment to pray for Nate.

At Mass you can offer your Holy Communion for him and when you go home, you can pray a Rosary for him.

Adults can have a Mass offered for Nate, by contacting Shayla Grasser.

Let us all keep him in our prayers, though he may be in heaven, if he is in purgatory, he will be so grateful, that we prayed for him and helped him to go to heaven.

May the soul of Nate and the souls of all the faithful departed rest in peace. And may Our Lady Queen of Peace, help us to turn to Jesus, when our hearts are troubled and afraid and also in times of calm.