Jesus said to his disciples: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.  Not as the world gives do I give it to you. (Jn 14:27)

In today’s gospel, we have Jesus’ farewell discourse to his disciples.  He offers them the gift of peace.  “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.  Not as the world gives do I give it to you”. (Jn 14:27) Peace or “shalom” is the traditional Hebrew salutation.   Originally it meant soundness of body, but it came to signify perfect happiness and the liberation that the Messiah was expected to bring. 

 

Jesus’ “shalom” is a gift of salvation connoting the bounty of his messianic blessing.  We typically think of peace as the absence of violence in our world today.  What Jesus is offering is an internal peace.  A peace that comes from a sense of inner security, of a conviction that God is with us and in us and that we are in the right place. It is something that not even the threat of death can take away.

 

Where in my life do I need the peace of Jesus at this moment?

 

Happy Easter

 

Deacon Joe Trevino

St. Clare of Assisi Catholic Church

Houston, TX