Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you!
There is a kind surety of security and protection a parent gives to a child even when some do not make sense, but the goal is always to build confidence in this child. Take for instance, when a child falls and is crying the parent will tell the child let us beat the ground for making you fall! The child gains confidence that where my father or my mother is, I have nothing to fear.
In the gospel today Jesus seems to bid farewell to his disciples. Let's imagine what was in the disciples' mind. They are anxious about what will happen after he is gone? Fear must be creeping in their hearts and asking themselves; do we have authority to stand after he is gone? Jesus knowing this he gives them a gift and a promise. He gives them a gift of peace and promises them that his power will always remain with them when he says the prince of the world has no power over him.
This comes clearly in Mt 28:20 when Jesus promises that “I will be with you always, till the end of the world.” Probably due to troubled thoughts at that moment, it must have been hard for disciples to understand what kind of peace Jesus was giving. This is our difficulty, too. He mentions the peace I give you ‘not as the world gives do I give.’ In the world’s understanding, peace is the absence of any kind of trouble. Jesus' peace is beyond any imaginable trouble. This is the reason it eliminates the trouble of Hell for those who believe.
The world’s peace is the human approach of doing everything that makes me accomplished in my own autonomy and avoiding anything that makes me feel unpleasant. This is anxious peace, the kind of peace that I think I must remain extremely alert. Living like a fighter. Protecting my priorities and discarding anything that I think makes me unpleasant. It is not true peace but utopia peace that is actually fearful and anxious. Wanting to control and shield self to certain dynamics. Christ peace is eternal and nothing that can separate us from it not even danger, suffering, death or anything.
This is why even martyrs at point of their death they had peace. This is why the someone offers their suffering for prayer and special reconciliation to God. This is the reason even when everything lacks meaning; the family kneels together in prayer, trusting that they are not alone! This is peace that even when I remain alone as only believer in the family, I do not give up my faith.
St. Augustine writing about peace describes it in three ways, one is serenity of mind-allowing God to take control of our thoughts, fears and distress. Second is simplicity of heart-becoming contented with what we have received from God as gifts and finally, tranquility of soul-being fully reconciled with God. This is why the sacrament of penance becomes a healing sacrament. Peace of Christ resides in us when we allow God to take control of our situations, when we let God take control of our families. Peace of Christ is real when we render all we have as God’s given gifts especially our families. Peace of Christ is within us through true reconciliation first with one another and 1 secondly with Him. It is a process of practice, prayer, and surrender, not a lack of worldly burdens or troubles. May God grant us peace!