Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Easter
Acts 14:19-28  +  John 14:27-31
May 16, 2017

“‘Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.’”

Is peace a daily goal that I focus on?  What form do I expect peace to take?  All of us would like to have peace in our lives, but maybe we think of peace merely as a “bonus” that God might give us if we live right.  However, Jesus proclaims today that peace is at the very heart of what it means to be His disciple.  We should fix our attention on this peace, then, and cultivate our lives so as to accept this gift from Jesus.

First, what is Jesus’ peace?  Second, what do we need to do to cultivate our lives so as to accept it?

What is Jesus’ peace?  Jesus clarifies what it is not:  “not as the world gives do I give it to you.”  The peace that the world seeks is fleeting and based on compromise.  The peace of Jesus, on the contrary, does not need to engage in compromise because it consists in what is truly best for each and all.  As such, it is abiding.

Is this sort of peace even possible in the world here below?  It is possible to fix our lives on this gift from Jesus, and abide in it throughout our lives.  However, to do so takes a lot of cultivation of our souls, so that formed by the natural and supernatural virtues of the spiritual life, we can be persons in whom God’s grace can take root and flower abundantly.