We begin each Mass, of course, with the Sign of the Cross, and then a greeting. As the priest, I have a few options: “The Lord be with you,” OR “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you,” OR “Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
But if a bishop is the presider, he has only one option: “Peace be with you.” But he’s by no means limited in that one greeting. And even though it is the shortest greeting, it is arguably the strongest one and the most profound, especially in light of today’s Gospel. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you.”
We probably know, that in our Christian faith, peace is not simply defined as the absence of war, division or discord. And with Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan, we don’t even have much of an absence of war these days. Today’s Gospel, linking the gift of the Holy Spirit and the peace of Christ, gives us a good clue to this Christian sense of peace. It’s an all-encompassing reality, like our relationship with Christ and his Spirit generally. It is an abiding contentment that doesn’t follow the ups and downs of our day. Peace is a gift received, and a gift given. It’s an active gift, the greatest gift we can receive, the greatest gift we can wish for the other person. That’s why later in this and every Mass, when we greet each other for the first and only time in the Mass, we offer each other a sign of that same peace of Christ.
At the end of our lives, and those of our loved ones, our hope – and prayer – is that all will “rest in peace.” Let’s not wait ‘til then to experience and work for more of that peace in Christ right now. “Peace be with you.”