From the pulpit
Peace beyond comprehension
This morning Jesus says to His disciples, "In Me you may have peace." Everybody wants peace and quiet and stillness. The Lord today gives us the secret: "in Me, you may have peace." He doesn't promise we won't have tribulation, but He says, "In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."
The world says to us, "In money, you will find peace," but the Lord says to us, "No, in Me." The world says, "In health, you will find peace," but the Lord says, "No, in Me." In people approving of me, in success, in progression, in the resolution of problems, when everything is better, when everything is fixed, you'll have peace. The Lord says, "No, in Me, you will have peace."
That is so important for us to remember, because outside Christ, even if all those things are there, people don't have peace. The wealthiest, the healthiest, the most respected: if Christ is not there, there is no peace, because this is the recipe for it. "In Me, you will have peace," He says. The other consequence is that even if I'm not healthy, not wealthy, even if I have countless problems in my life, in Him I will find peace that no one and nothing can touch.
How can we find this peace that no one and nothing can touch? Because it is built on the rock, and that rock is Christ.
Peace in the Liturgy
Firstly, peace comes from the Liturgy. The disciples were assembled together in fear, the door was closed, wondering what's going to happen, what Jesus is going to do. And then three times Jesus appears and says to them, "Peace to you." The door was closed, and there Jesus was, standing miraculously before them, saying, "Peace to you."
This same thing happens in our church every Sunday. The door is closed, we're assembled in fear, everybody has their concern, worry or pain, and then all of a sudden, Christ manifests Himself on the altar, and the priest, countless times throughout the Liturgy, says, "Peace to you, peace to you, peace to you." So if we want to find this peace that surpasses understanding, that is not dependent on our circumstances, we may find it in the Liturgy.
How many times have you come to church when your whole world is upside down, and you leave the church full of peace? Nothing has changed. I am still going out there, back to my problems, but for some reason I have found peace, because Christ has come and declared, "Peace be with you all." If you want to find peace, find it in the church, and find it especially in the Liturgy.
Peace through humility
We may find peace also through humility. There's a really beautiful verse in the Gospel of St Matthew that says, "You will find rest for your souls." I love this expression so much. How good does that sound? How do we find this rest for our souls? "Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart." Come to Him and learn from Him and from His humility, and you will find rest for your souls.
There's a really beautiful prayer, written by a Catholic cardinal in the late 1800s, called the Litany of Humility, and it gives us some insight into how we can find godly peace. It's a lengthy prayer (you'll find it in full below), so I've just chosen a few parts of it to share with you: "From the desire of being esteemed, deliver me, Jesus; from the desire of being consulted, deliver me, Jesus; from the desire of being approved, deliver me, Jesus; from the fear of being humiliated, deliver me, Jesus; from the fear of being wronged, deliver me, Jesus; from the fear of being suspected, deliver me, Jesus. That others may be loved more than I, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it. That others may be chosen and I set aside, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it. That others may be preferred to me in everything, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it."
Somebody who is living according to this prayer will find it very hard to lose their peace. Somebody else is respected, listened to, honoured, recognised, whatever: I live in peace. We lose peace when we cling tightly to being right. If I cling tightly to being respected, recognised, understood and in control, then when that is inevitably taken away from me, I lose my peace. But when I accept those things, acknowledge the reality that I'm not in control, and live in true humility, then when someone takes that away from me, I'm not disturbed. I live in peace.
Peace through detachment
So we find peace in church, particularly in the Liturgy, and we find peace through humility. The third place that we can find peace is through detachment. When we are attached to something, we try to protect it, but the other approach is to throw it away. If losing something is going to disturb you, rather than trying to protect it, consider throwing it away. Then it won't disturb you. Throw away your ego, throw away your pride, throw away your comfort and luxury. Peace comes from detachment.
We see that in a remarkable story from the life of St Macarius the Great. It's a really small anecdote, but it's quite profound. He lived in a cell with very little, and once, when he came back home to his cell, a cave in the desert, he found a thief there with an animal, loading up the very meagre possessions this poor monk had. So what did St Macarius do? I'll paraphrase. He said to the thief, "That looks pretty heavy, let me help you." And so he proceeded to help the thief load his animal with his own possessions. "Here, take it."
Sometimes we try to protect our peace by protecting our ego, our luxury and our comfort. St Macarius helped a thief rob him. That's a peace that nobody can take away from him. His peace was not in possessions; his peace was in Christ. "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."
So let's throw away this fake peace, this cheap peace that the world gives us, and take the true peace that comes from the Lord, that abides in and changes our hearts.
We see this in some remarkable stories throughout Scripture. If somebody was entitled to lose their peace, it would be Joseph: thrown into a well, left for dead by his brothers, sold as a slave, taken to a foreign country, falsely accused, sent to jail. If someone had a right to lose their peace, it was him, especially after the betrayal of his brothers. Yet he says in Genesis 50:20, "You meant evil against me; but God meant it for good."
I will finish with a promise from Isaiah 26:
"You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You." (Isaiah 26:3)
It is a promise for us to claim today in the Liturgy. Perfect peace does not come from perfect circumstances. Perfect peace comes to the one whose mind and heart are focused on our Lord, to the one who trusts in our Lord.
So we pray for each other that today, at the end of the Liturgy, when the proclamation is made to "go in peace," we take His peace with us: the peace that comes from the Liturgy, the peace that grows through our humility, and the peace that is protected by our detachment from this world.
