True Peace - Weekday Homily Video

A wife ordered a tombstone for her late husband’s grave with the inscription, “Rest in Peace.” A few days later, she discovered that her husband had left a part of his will to another woman. Furious, she called the tomb engraver and asked if he could change the inscription. The man replied that “Rest in Peace” had already been inscribed and could not be changed. “Well then,” the wife snorted, “just add to it, ‘Until We Meet Again.’”

In the ancient world, there were many horrible forms of torture with death as the objective. We are familiar with the crucifixion, and that was what Jesus went through. It was awful in that the condemned person was nailed to the cross and hung there to die slowly.

Another form was stoning a person to death. It was another horrible way to die slowly. As we hear in the Acts of the Apostles, Paul was stoned and then dragged outside the town, and his enemies thought he was dead. The disciples came crowding around him, but as they did so, he stood up and returned to the town as if nothing had happened to him. We may be surprised, but such were the signs and wonders that God worked in the early Church that strengthened the faith of the disciples to continue proclaiming the Good News of salvation with courage.

My Peace I Give to You

Despite opposition and persecution, the early disciples had the peace that Jesus gave them, a peace that the world cannot give nor take away. Some very moving words were spoken by Jesus when he said to his disciples, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.” How comforting it must have been to the disciples to hear this, for the peace Christ was giving came from a man who had confronted Satan, performed countless miracles, and was always calm and peaceful, even during a raging storm.

Peace is the gift of the Resurrected Jesus, who extended peace more than once after the resurrection. But he reminds us that this peace differs from what the world offers. The peace that Jesus gives us is the “experience of finding ourselves in the bosom of our Heavenly Father.” Jesus was inserting this message to the disciples when he reminded them not to be worried about bread to eat and clothes to wear. One can be peaceful even in the face of hunger and nakedness if she or he can find a place in the bosom of the Father. Jesus could sleep peacefully in the boat even though there was a storm on the sea because he experienced that “He and His Father” were one.

Don’t we bear injustice in society in the name of maintaining peace? Think of all the wars that are happening. Don’t parents prefer to stay silent in the face of wrongs done by their children in the pretext of maintaining peace in the family? Don’t husbands and wives bear each other’s bad habits without trying to correct them in the name of peace or not hurting their feelings?

If I were serious about peace, wouldn’t I be carving out time first with my husband, wife, children, and colleagues? If I were serious about peace, wouldn’t I get to confession more regularly?

The Lord's Peace

Real peace is to find ourselves in the bosom of our Heavenly Father. Jesus could find that peace because he fulfilled the will of the Father throughout his life. The apostles, too, understood it, and they were at peace even though they had been stoned, putting them on the verge of death. Let us differentiate between the peace that Jesus gives and that of this world, and hold on to the peace of Jesus.

• Today’s Readings

• Father Boby's inspirational homily was recorded live during Mass at the Father Peyton Center this morning. Please view the video on our Facebook page. (You don't need a Facebook account to view.) 

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