Peace and Faith
Acts 5:12-16; Revelation 1:9-11a, 12-13, 17-19; John 20:19-31
“Peace be with you,” Jesus says to his post-Resurrection disciples. “Peace be with you,” he says to each one of us today. Peace is his gift to us. Peace is the legacy he leaves with us now that he is risen, now that he is victorious, now that he reigns with Father and Holy Spirit in eternal glory, as we remain on earth following in faith our Risen Lord. “Peace be with you.”
Are you at peace today? I’m not asking, “Are you complacent, are you numb, are you zoned out, mellow, disengaged? But rather, “Are you at peace - in balance, in touch with your Risen Lord?” Peace was defined by St. Thomas Aquinas as “the tranquility of right order.” Are you tranquil today? His victory is our victory. It’s not so much that we’ve picked a winner, but that a winner – an eternal winner, the Jesus of glory – has picked us. Therefore, be at peace. Let nothing disturb you. “Peace be with you.”
Today’s gospel puts us in the midst of that band of close disciples who huddled there in the Upper Room. He showed them his hands and his side where hours earlier there was blood, but now they see not marks of torture but badges of honor, signs of victory. He will suffer no more; he is king forever.
“Peace be with you,” he greets them again the following Sunday. And then, to the Apostle who must see before he believes, he says, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.’”
How often have we said, “Seeing is believing?” Most times it’s said after we’ve been let down, disappointed by someone we trusted, someone we put our faith in, after resolutions to change that never seem to happen; after an endless stream of promises that are never fulfilled. But the fact is you don’t BELIEVE what you see; you KNOW what you see. You have sensory evidence, experiential knowledge of what you see. You believe only what you cannot see. You take it to be true on the testimony of another, or something deep within your being assures you that something is true, not based on any direct sensible experience of that which is believed.
Surely we all have doubts. But faith overcomes doubt to the point that we surrender ourselves to that which is unseen, unreasonable, illogical, and defies common sense. Faith demands that we abandon the attitude that SEEING is BELIEVING, and instead embrace the conviction that BELIEVING is LOVE. What did Jesus say to Thomas? “Do not be unbelieving, but believe.” Thomas answered as each of us can answer out of the depths of our doubt, “My Lord and my God.”
Then Jesus spoke the words to him that are really intended for all of us: “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”
That’s you! That’s me! We haven’t seen the Risen Lord and yet we believe that he did indeed rise from the dead. Even if we had seen him when he walked the earth, we, like Mary Magdalene and all his other disciples, would have to make a post-Resurrection adjustment. We would have to learn, as they did during these privileged moments when he appeared to them after rising from the tomb, that the physical contacts of the past are no longer possible. If they want to touch him now, cling to him now, follow him from now on, they would have to touch, cling, and follow with the embrace of faith. That is exactly our situation today.
Believe and peace will follow. Believe and balance will come into control. Be in touch with your Risen Lord – and remember you can touch him now only by faith – and feel a marvelous and profound peace settle into your heart.
So if you hesitated to say "yes" to my earlier inquiry about whether or not you are now at peace, or perhaps said “no” within the quiet confines of your heart, if you admitted to the absence of peace within your heart, perhaps you were actually admitting to a deficit of faith. And if that’s you, today’s gospel should give you great consolation and hope, for just look at what happened to Thomas.
“Do not be unbelieving, but believe.” Let the “Amen” you say today during Communion be a humble affirmation of your faith in our Risen Lord, whose body, blood, soul and divinity you stand before about to receive. In your heart, intend that that simple two syllable word (which is so often said without thinking) will mirror the profound affirmation of faith of the once-doubting Thomas: “My Lord and my God!”
Just say it and let the healing begin. Let the doubts diminish. For after all, if Jesus conquered death, if his Father raised him from the tomb, they together with their Holy Spirit can conquer your doubts; they alone can help you to believe that which cannot be seen; they can deepen your faith; they alone can bring you true peace.
In today’s gospel, Jesus tells the Apostles, “As the Father has sent me, so I also send you.” Yes, we too are sent . . . sent out to the members of our families, to our friends and neighbors, to our co-workers, to the world . . . to proclaim our faith in our Risen Lord by word and through example, and to share the peace which comes through belief in him and through following his way.
There is a famous prayer attributed to St. Francis of Assisi. You’ve heard it and prayed it often:
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is discord, unity;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is error, truth;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is sadness, joy;
Where there is darkness, light.
O Divine Master,
Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
To be understood, as to understand;
To be loved, as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned.
It is in dying that we are born to everlasting life.
Those words are certainly the example of living that Jesus set for us. They are the way that St. Francis lived his faith. They are the challenge that another man named Francis, our new pope, has given us. Today, let’s make that prayer our own.
Peace be with you.
