THE ROAD TO PEACE.

SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER. YEAR C.
May 13, 2007.
(First Reading: Acts of the Apostles 15:1-2, 22-29) (Psalm 67:2-3, 5-6, 8)
(Second Reading: Revelation 21:10-14, 22-23)
( Gospel Reading: John 14:23-29)

THE ROAD TO PEACE.

Dedicated to all mothers on Mother's Day.

"Whoever loves me will keep my word, and
my Father will love him, and we will come
to him and make our dwelling with him...
My peace I give you" (John 14:23, 27)

By keeping Jesus' word we bring him into ourselves, we allow him to make his dwelling with us, we make ours the peace Jesus gives us.

The road to peace follows these steps:
1. Commitment to keep Jesus' word.
A. To keep Jesus' word means to be able to make his word a reality in our lives. To keep his word means to make the commitment to live by his word.

Just like a person has the ability to commit himself to make his aspirations, his ideals, his goals a reality, so he must demonstrate the same commitment to making Jesus's word a reality in his life.

The one who is committed to a cause will not cease in his efforts until said cause is fulfilled. A person with well defined goals will live every day of his life for the purpose of making those goals a reality.

B. The word of Jesus is the revelation of true life. That is to say, Jesus, the Word of God, reveals to us the fullness of life, the life of justice and peace and goodness to be lived by all human beings. Jesus reveals his word to us not by any means of imposition, but by the example and sacrifice of his own life so that we may be able to willingly accept and keep his word.

Thus, if the word is to be a source of true life, it cannot be imposed(1).

2. God makes his dwelling in us.
Those who keep Jesus' word are giving permission for God to make his dwelling in them, to live with and in them.

Thus, by their own volition and conviction human beings are able to receive within themselves the very source of life, the life which they want to live to its fullest, the life they want to keep and make a reality always. Those who allow God to make his dwelling in them, are also allowing all human beings to make their dwelling in them, for God is the Father of all.

The Book of Revelation speaks of the "holy Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God" (Revelation 21:10), the Jerusalem which all human beings "from the east and the north and the south and the west" can enter if they allow God to make his dwelling with them.

Where God lives there Justice and peace exist, as the Psalmist says: "May the nations be glad and shout for joy; for you govern the peoples justly" (Psalm 67:5), for whenever people become God's dwelling, God's justice and peace are within themselves.

3. Jesus gives peace to those who keep his word.
To those who keep Jesus' word he gives his peace. Jesus tells us in the gospel: "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you" (John 14:27).

The peace Jesus gives differs radically from the peace the world gives.
A. The peace Jesus gives:
I. The peace Jesus gives us is the product of us freely having allowed him to make his dwelling in us; in other words, it is because we allow Jesus to dwell in us that he gives us the only genuine peace - the peace that comes from within, not from imposition.

II. The peace that Jesus gives us frees us from cowardice and fear in the face of opposition and struggle. Jesus tells us: "Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid" (John 14:27). Jesus himself - The King of Peace - was under constant attack from his enemies, he endured relentless opposition from many people, and yet he never lost heart, and courageously confronted death, and death on a cross, for the peace of his Father was with him.

B. The peace the world gives:
I. The peace the world gives is the product of an imposition, it is a form of control imposed by a dominant group or nation upon other human beings for the sole purpose of maintaining a "established order" that would ensure the submission of the subjects. Therefore, the "peace" the world gives is no peace at all and only makes God's peace all the more urgent.

History demonstrates that nations that embark on imperialistic adventures have systematically recourse to wars of aggression and conquest with the pretext of bringing "peace" (or "freedom" or "democracy") to weaker nations(2).

II. The "peace the world gives" generates fear in the oppressed and fear in the oppressor:
- Fear in the oppressed. The "peace the world gives" is perpetuated by fear and threats of impending harm upon those who attempt to free themselves form such "peace".

- Fear in the oppressor. It is the fear that comes from the potential or actual reaction by the people who suffer the oppression. Those who impose their oppressive rule (under the facade of "peace", of course) live in fear of retaliation.

The nation promoting the "peace the world gives" must recourse to creating its own mechanisms of defense and protection which by their very existence reveal the prevalent fear which burdens their peoples(3).

Today Jesus invites us to keep his word so that he may make his dwelling in us and give us his peace for he is the road to peace.
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Footnotes:
(1) Jesus cannot impose his word upon human beings for in doing so he would be destroying the very life he is intending to restore.
(2) At the individual level, the person who forcefully imposes his will upon others lacks the grounds required for establishing true peace.
(3) At the individual level, the one who oppresses other people, would reveal the reality of his fear whenever he carries, say, a weapon for his protection. Thus, the weapon denounces the existence of fear. At the international level, the nation which oppresses other nations will reveal its fears by preventing the oppressed nations from developing the same kind of weapons the powerful nation already possesses.