MY PEACE I GIVE

John 14:27-31

There is no doubt that peace is the deepest need of every person in the world today. It is a word easy to spell, a word easy to pronounce and a word easy to preach but hard to achieve. In the Jewish tradition, the word peace (shalom in Hebrew) is a common formula for greeting and farewell. It is an expression of the harmony and communion with God and it is the seal of Covenant. Thus, it carries an eschatological and messianic meaning.

            Our gospel reading today is still part of Jesus’ discourse during the last supper. Jesus is still preparing his disciples for his departure. He says: “Peace I leave you, my peace I give you.” “I am going away and I will come back to you.” All of us here know that letting go is a painful reality. Detachment from what we value is a difficult thing to do. It is even more difficult in the case of someone who is dear to us, someone who has become a source of our security.

Such was the dilemma of the apostles with Christ. Christ became their main source of security and allowing Him to leave would ruin their hopes for a better future. However, Christ challenged them to let go of Him. Christ wanted them to realize that it is only by letting Him go that they could start with their own lives. It is by His leaving that the reality of His eternal presence will be bestowed upon them.

We share the same struggle the apostles had. More often, we tend to cling unto things valuable to us or to cling to people who are important in our life. Like the apostles, we are also confronted with fear and pain in responding to the call of letting go; responding to the call of detachment. But Christ emphatically says that it is only by allowing Him to go that we receive the promise of His eternal presence - the Holy Spirit. Even if it is a radical and a painful act to let go, Christ assures us that it is the only way to receive the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of peace. May the Lord grand us a spirit of total surrender to his will.