5th week in Easter Time, Tuesday – 17th May 2022 — Gospel: Jn 14,27-31
Greater Peace
The peace that Jesus offers is not like that of the world. In the worldly sense, peace is absence of conflict or worry. The best we can expect from the natural world is unfairness and death (Rom 8,20; Jas 4,14; Ps 73,3). Even attempts to be moral lead only to frustration (2 Cor 7,10). Since it is Jesus who gives peace, we know that it is something greater. The peace that Jesus is telling his disciples is a peace that comes from trusting the Father. As he faced his Passion, Jesus instructed, “Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.” His example shows us that peace does not depend on everything going right in our lives, but rather it is rooted in trust in the Father’s goodness and his desire for our ultimate happiness. Jesus wants us to experience this peace in the midst of the trials of our lives by placing our trust completely in the Father. In another sense, Jesus’s peace refers to a hope and reassurance that goes beyond what a fallen world can offer (Phil 4,7). It is permanent, guaranteed, and eternal (Heb 6,18-19).
