The Sign of Peace

“Peace I leave you; my peace I give you.”  With these words, Jesus promised his followers the gift of his peace before facing his passion and death—a peace born from the trust he had in God.  Following his resurrection, Jesus returns and utters, “Peace be with you.”  Christ’s peace is the fruit of his death and resurrection.  We experience Christ’s peace each time we gather for Eucharist, when we see Christ in each other, when we hear him speak to us in the Gospel and  when we exchange the sign of peace.  This embrace of peace imitates the teaching of Jesus in the gospel of Matthew:  “If you bring your gift to the altar and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift at the altar, go first to be reconciled … and then come and offer your gift.”  The intent of the sign of peace is to reconcile any differences among members of the body of Christ and to bring them into communion with each other. 

We experience communion with each other before we have communion with Christ.  But, it doesn’t end there.  Our exchange of peace is a rehearsal of the how we are to live—in peace—in the world.  As the Vatican recently noted:

“Today, a serious obligation for Catholics in building a more just and peaceful world is accompanied by a deeper understanding of the Christian meaning of peace and this depends largely on the seriousness with which our particular Churches welcome and invoke the gift of peace and express it in the liturgical celebration.”

The Church is trying to teach us that we all have the potential and the responsibility to be peacemakers.  Those who want to further reflect on what it means to truly be a peacemaker might consider taking the adult class Instruments of Christ: Reflections on the Peace Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi, which is being offered at St. Thomas Aquinas beginning this Sunday.  Let us pray that like St. Francis, we too can be instruments of Christ’s peace in a world that is weary, war-torn and crying out for healing and peace.