Great promise, the one that Jesus makes to his disciples: Peace. The gift that the Lord leaves has something very simple in itself, yet never perfectly possessed by men.
But the peace that the Lord promises us is not simply the absence of conflicts, nor that situation of apparent tranquility, marked by constant tension, which is experienced during the time of dictators. “Peace! Shalom!” it is the usual greeting that is still exchanged today in the Holy Land. It is the wish for happiness, fullness, health, good life that two people who love each other exchange.
Man is a complex reality: he greets himself by wishing for the fullness of peace, but he invests a lot of energy in small and large daily wars to emerge. By rejecting peace, one always chooses death: peace is not submission, injustice, fear, but freedom, justice, trust in man. Peace is a gift from God that must be guarded with great care, like all gifts.
How far we are still from this reality! The Church itself, unfortunately too often torn apart by jealousy, envy, blackmail, does not become a place of peace: on how many occasions does the scandal of quarrel and envy in our communities distance people who are entering parish life.
There is no path to peace on the path to security: Peace in fact must be “dared”, it is the only great risk and can never, ever be assured. Peace is the opposite of security, demanding security means being distrustful and in turn this distrust generates war.
If the world knew and put into practice the peace that Jesus taught us there would be no more wars. Let’s take these words from the Gospel to do spring cleaning within ourselves. We mentally make a list of the people against whom we have something and begin to forgive them, and then go with a pure and sincere heart to forgive them with our gaze, our smile, our words. Maybe we won’t change the world, but we will teach our interlocutors by trying to be the best example.
FONTE: Listen and Meditate – Pastoral Center for Evangelization and Catechesis
