Be not afraid

 ‘… Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.… (John 14:27)

John 14:23-29 (Year C: Easter+6)

Under peace

How do we know our religion makes sense in the long-run of life? By now, readers may be expecting the next sentence to be on the lines of saying “when we love as God loves”. True, very true. But that, actually, is not the answer on this occasion. The answer is that love brings forth peace and it is that peace which guards our soul and the soul of others. In the Irish (Gaelic) language we do not say that someone is ‘in peace’ but someone is ‘under peace’ (faoi shíochán).  At the end of the eucharist the priest says: ‘imígí faoi shíocháin’ meaning ‘go in peace’ or, literally, ‘under peace’.  The substitution of adjective is subtle but significant. Peace – like many other stages of being or mind are said to be ‘upon’ us. We do not say that someone is happy, sad or at peace but that someone is ‘under’ sadness or anger is ‘upon’ someone or someone is ‘under’ peace. Peace covers us like a veil just as joy, sadness and other emotions are ‘upon us’.

Before the start of this chosen passage for the sixth Sunday in Easter-time one of the apostles asked Jesus:

Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?

This is how God reveals himself – as direct, personal and compassionate love. To find a home in us love must generate love. We love because we are loved. Realising this is the work of a lifetime because a lot of things stand in the way of realising this including ideas, assumptions and various notions planted early on in our awareness and sub-awareness. Bad theology and distorted ideas of God also play their part in blocking a realisation of God’s love within us and among us. Peace is the fruit of love and being loved. We need some measure of peace – as God gives it and not as we presume it – to become aware of the divine spark of love in us.  This takes time and patience and involves a daily practice of compassion towards ourselves and towards others. We do not ‘earn’ some favour from God but our actions stem from grace and build on grace. We are nothing without this grace.

Those who turn to him in their hearts

The lines of the Psalm (84:9) come to mind:

I will hear what the Lord God has to say, a voice that speaks of peace, peace for his people and his friends and those who turn to him in their hearts.

There are many things that we tend to worry about more or less and now and again – relationships, finances, health, perceived threats, the past, the future, the present, death, life, what lies beyond etc. It would be unrealistic to think that we can free ourselves of worry. Everyone has their gethsemane moment and, somehow, emerged intact at the other end of such moment or moments.

There is a famous and familiar piece prayer from St Teresa of Avila which many millions across the world find helpful as they plod along or wait for sleep at night or jump out into a new day:

Let nothing disturb you,
Let nothing frighten you,
All things are passing away:
God never changes.
Patience obtains all things
Whoever has God lacks nothing;
God alone suffices.

Some questions

• Do I really listen to God’s Word in my mind and heart?
• Do I allow this Word to shape my thinking and my behaving?
• Am I at fully at home in the Sacrament of God’s Word?
• Would others say that I bring more peace than the opposite of peace in my day-to-day living?
• When I shake someone’s hand at the liturgy each Sunday do I mean what I say and say what I mean to that person (sometimes a complete stranger – although less likely nowadays as churches empty out here in Europe).
• Do I extend the ‘sign of peace’ in words and gestures once I leave the church porch?
• Is my home, my place of work or my place of social engagement in the community more/less/the-same on some measure of ‘peace’ as a result of my presence?
• What difficult personal price am I prepared to reach a lasting peace that is just, assertive of my rights and those of others and liberating for those who do not know peace in their lives at this time?

A religion that makes sense is one that enables us to find peace at the end of life. It also means finding peace today within ourselves and, if it be at all possible, with others. And if none of this seems possible we can still hang in there in hope and love and trust. After all we believe that Grace carries us in its arms.

When we love we find peace and under this peace we taste heaven even now.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Phil 4:7)