In the first reading of todays’s Mass (Acts 14:19-28), we hear about only a very few of the many hardships that Paul endured preaching the Gospel. In other places we hear that he is ship wrecked, falls victim to bandits, endures slanders and calumnies at the hands of false brothers. Here he is stoned to the point that his would-be executioners leave him for dead. Yet he got up, with other disciples around him, and entered the city, an act of defiance in the face of determined opposition. What gave Paul the ability to get up after suffering such harsh treatment was that he possessed the peace of Christ.
In the Gospel reading (Jn 14:27-31A) Jesus tells his disciples not to be afraid. The satanic "ruler of the world is coming," He is going away, and their faith will be shaken. It is the night before He's to die, and Jesus is trying to prepare them so that they won't falter. Of course, they do - especially Peter, but He gives them His peace so that even when they stumble and fall they may have the ability to get back up.
But what is this peace? To start with something it's not, we can say that it isn't contentment or happiness. I doubt that Paul felt happy after being beaten within an inch of his life by men with heavy stones. I don't think Martin Luther King was feeling contented as he sat in Birmingham Jail. Both men, in a way, had been beaten down by their foes. They were defeated in the moment, but an inner peace that only Christ can give lifted them back up. In Paul's case to continue the mission of evangelization by walking defiantly back into the city of Lystra. In the case of King, he wrote his famous letter, challenging the consciences of those "moderate" religious leaders who sympathized with he cause of civil rights but felt it imprudent to act. Both men possessed the inner strength born from faith, and the right ordering of their lives in light of that faith. In those moments they were no longer living for themselves, but for Christ, and the Kingdom He came to establish. Both men possessed the peace of Christ.
The peace of Christ isn't a protection against all anxiety, or a guarantee that we will never face obstacles. It is the peace of Christ that enables us to get up again after being beaten down. The peace of Christ is born from faith lived out consistently in our lives. When we know and live the Commandments, not out of fear but out of love, we possess the peace of Christ. In a way it is a coming together of the three great theological virtues, faith hope and love, lived in concert with one another, directing our lives toward deeper union with God.
This isn't the peace of the world. The peace of the world is built on that which is material, sensual, and willful. We too often seek happiness in consumer goods, money or property. Or else we seek some sense high or pleasure from chemical or sexual sources. Then there are those who chase after power, either in the political, corporate or ecclesiastical realm. In their proper place property, pleasure and the exercises of power aren't bad, but they don't offer lasting peace, and can corrupt the individual. Property, pleasure and power divorced from responsibility are sources of unhappiness for those caught up in their pursuit and for others around them. They can lead, in the end, to eternal perdition.
Christ is calling us to not look for lasting peace in these temporary fixes of property, pleasure and power. He gives us the example to follow. We shouldn't be afraid to carry the cross we are given. It will seem hard, even excruciating, at the time. We may feel beaten down or imprisoned emotionally or psychologically. But if we hold fast to what is true, and to Him who is Truth, this peace will carry us on from the cross, through the tomb to the everlasting glory of the resurrection.
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