The Gift of Peace

Gospel: John 14: 27-31

In today's Gospel portion Jesus promises the gift of peace to us, and we look around in search for it.  The world is continually at war as it has been since that time.  Christians are ever at odds with each other as they have since these words were uttered.  Where is this promised peace?  We might well understand why the world lacks peace and is ever at war, but certainly the Christian community of Jesus would be a place of peace, and yet it is not.

Jesus utters these words on the night he was to be arrested, sent to prison, tortured, put on trial, and eventually executed the next day.  In the midst of all those events Jesus demonstrates remarkable peace and calm.  There is utter trust in God, and there is complete serenity of resting in the truth.  Jesus had fulfilled his mission of being the love and mercy of God in the world, and that mission would carry on in this last day to his very last second on earth.

This is the peace Jesus promises to us.  It is the peace he has - union with God, being God's mercy and love in the world, resting in the truth of a clear conscience that one has lived for the care and loving kindness of others.  The peace we seek and which was promised to us is an interior one.  It is a peace which can animate a fractured world and an acrimonious Christian community if we allow it, for it is the peace simply of knowing God's presence, and knowing that is enough. 

Living the Commandment

Gospel: John 14: 21-26

Jesus bids us to obey his commandment, and his commandment is to love one another as he loved us.  That is the entirety of the Christian life.  In wondering how to do this, Jesus had invited us to follow him.  In doing so, we observe him healing people of what ails them, liberating people from what holds them bound, and nourishing people at table with food and companionship.  These are the things we are to do in the particular lives in which we live.  

A person comes to a church wanting to become a Christian.  What process is followed at that point? Very often it is a lot of classes on doctrine and beliefs, along with practices on sacraments and prayer.  But almost none of it is about the fundamental things Jesus actually did.  So little of it has to do with the commandment of love.  Imagine if our catechumens and candidates spent their time following Jesus through the Gospels and carrying out these deeds of mercy and compassion as their catechesis!  

For so long formation in Christianity has been entirely intellectual, not that the intellect is unimportant.  However, the approach of Jesus throughout the Gospels is entirely affective, directed to the heart of the person.  It is a school of love and deeds that reflect that love.  If Christian formation is not about these things then it will continue to fail, for discipleship is not measured by a written exam, but rather by how one lives mercy and love in the world. 

The Communal and Individual

Gospel: John 14: 1-12

The spiritual life is a journey undertaken with others, and at the same time it is one we traverse alone, as today's Gospel portion denotes.  We have a common path, the Way of Jesus, and we follow that path together, seeking to imitate the Lord in the way of compassion, love, and mercy in our lives.  We seek the support of others in this journey, and we provide help to others as well.  This constitutes the communal aspect of the spiritual life.  

At the same time, Jesus notes that the mansion of God has many dwelling places, representing the individual aspect of the spiritual journey.  Each one of us has our own unique relationship to God that may be similar to others, but never identical.  We all seek to follow the Way of compassion, love, and mercy, but we will carry out those deeds in our own way and in the particular circumstances of life in which we find ourselves.  

In the Christian tradition the monastery serves as a perfect representation of these two complementary elements of the spiritual life.  There are the common spaces of the chapel and dining hall and the work room.  But there is the cell of the monk that is all their own, a place to be alone with God in silence.  In our own lives we can create such spaces, places to gather with others for the common journey, and places for us to be alone with God in our cell.