A word appears several times in this Sunday’s readings: peace. In the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, “peace flows like a river” through the ideal future landscape that the Prophet predicts. Then, St. Paul prays for peace for all who follow Christ (“peace be upon them, and mercy”). And when sending out His disciples, Jesus says their first message must be: “Peace to this house.”
Especially in our tumultuous and trying times, we all have a longing for peace. But how many of us want it on our own terms? How many of us actually give peace more than lip service?
Bitter divisions exist in our nation and world right now, but similarly bitter divisions were obvious in Galatia, according to St. Paul’s Letter to the Galatians (our second reading). A radically conservative Jewish-Christian group waned the Church to keep the Jewish rite of circumcision, while others like St. Paul considered that ritual obsolete, replaced by Baptism. Such arguments and misunderstandings were then, and are now, probably unavoidable. Every age in the Church has had its own controversies and divisions. But St. Paul wants to know what we are doing about them? He wants to know if we are dedicated to helping restore Christ’s peace?
St. Paul sets aside his need to be “on the right side,” when he says, “The only thing I boast about is the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world is crucified to me, and I to the world.” Peacemakers and servants of the Gospel, he says, must be prepared for our share of the Cross.
As we prepare to gather for Mass this weekend, let us remember that the total, self-emptying service shown by Christ shows us how to behave. He says that His peace demands a simple lifestyle, prepared for service and no ties to material things: “no purse, no haversack, no sandals.” He rules out all pride and arrogance. So, the generosity of God and how we share it with others must remain our message. In an often divisive and cruel world, we can do our part only by remembering Jesus, staying close to Him, following Him, and being instruments of His peace.
