DAILY DEVOTIONAL

Thursday, September 27, 2018

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. – John 14:27

Christ bequeaths to His disciples, a gift of Peace.  This Peace is of a certain quality, different from the peace the world provides.  But what distinguishes this Christ-Peace from the world’s peace?

In the world there is the anxious-peace, the peace that still is haunted by the threats of war. It is the peace provided by assured-mutual-destruction, a peace filled with threats, a peace sustained by armaments.

In the world there is the peace-of-the-temporary truce, the peace which provides a lull in the hostilities so that the combatants can recover their strength before resuming the conflict.

In the world there is the peace-of-the-Caesars, the peace of law and order which is enforced by might upon the cowering subjects, the peace promised by tyrants and authoritarian regimes.

In contrast, the Christ-Peace is the peace that is rooted in a Timeless Forever, the peace that comes with the reassuring Presence of the Lord, the peace that no longer fears and no longer threatens, the peace of knowing one’s soul that has woven within its fabric the Love that cannot be ripped apart though often becomes tattered.

I find that these present times have a desperate need for the Christ-Peace, not the peace of otherworldliness, not the peace of mightier-than-thou, not the peace of self-delusion and self-righteousness, but the Peace that goes beyond our human understanding as if within it lived the life of Christ.

Always in Christ’s Service,

Fr. Charitas de la Cruz