Incarnate Peace

 
Many miraculous events occurred after Jesus rose from the dead.  John's gospel rings with earth shattering events like Jesus appearing to the frightened apostles and saying to them, "Peace be with you" twice. What are we to understand from this pivotal passage. The Peace of Christ comes only from an encounter with Risen Lord. The encounter maybe any thing from a vision of the Risen Lord to receiving the Peace of Christ through the power of Spirit in a church gathering like a prayer group, a Cursillo, marriage encounter. We cannot limit the work of the Holy Spirit.  Having established that Jesus, the Risen Lord, is our Peace how do we incarnate the Peace of Christ. What then are the conditions to effect incarnate peace.

First, we must be in right relationship with God and neigbour. The peace of Jesus takes root in a humble, repentant heart. Our hearts must be like fertile soil(humus) in which the Holy Spirit plants the peace of Christ. But a condition of this belief is repentance, metanoia, a turning back to the Lord through the Sacrament of Reconciliation
 Besides the above moral obstacles, psychological barriers like scrupolosity may hinder recveiving the Peace of Christ. In pre-Vatican Catholics, like this writer, obsessive lingering on forgiven sins becoomes a state of moral torture, as the scruple rolls incessantly in the mind. This writing is not the place to discuss the cause; enough to say that this writer in his university prayer group recived healing of this scourge and opening to the Peace of Christ.
Second learning to be silent in the Lord fosters the Peace of Christ. Such a habit is difficult in a busy and in some areas a godless world sunken in modernity, i.e. a loss of a sense of the Transcendent. Once more the Lord gives a way through this malice in the words of the Psalmist: “For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation. In spite of world's noise we affirm silence, as Mother Thersa has said brings us closer the Lord.
Thirdly, participating in the Paschal Mystery, the Suffering, Death and Resurrection of Jesus prepares us to receive the Peace of Christ in Eucharist.

The peace of Christ is inseparable from the Paschal Mystery, the Suffering, Death and Resurrection

of Jesus Our Lenten prayer, fasting abstaining are ordered to the Paschal Mystery.

The Paschal Mystery is a fulfillment of the OT blessing of Peace body, soul and spirit. We are not speaking of just knowledge of the Paschal Mystery, but a heartfelt experience of central paradox of our faith:the Holy Spirit prompts us to suffer in faith with Jesus on the Cross, enter the tomb with Him, so we may rise with Him: we die to ourselves in order to rise with Jesus.

Each time we receive Eucharist we are enacting in our lives the Paschal Mystery, receiving the Peace of Christ which our living faith proclaims to world so in need of the Peace of Christ

Participating in the Paschal Mystery is like a key through which paradoxically we enter the tomb and rise with Jesus. Through penance, prayer, scripture, the sacraments we die to ourselves and rise with Jesus.

Dying to ourselves and rising with Jesus is the central paradox of our faith. The sucessful sign of this process is the Peace of Christ incarnate or enfleshed in our hearts. So vital is the Paschal Mystery it is  something we are meant to experience every day such as a mother sacrificing her holidays to be with a sick daughter.
 I still experience the above peace, but I do wonder why others do not have this peace. One reason for this absence is the devolution in worldview(exlanation of reality) from a Christo-centric worldview of the Middle Ages to one in which the Trancendent is absent.
Witness our current leaders expressing condolences: “Our thoughts[and prayers] are with the family. Granted our leaders do hold back on faith because we live in a diverse society, but we still need to stand on the Lord.
What then do we mean by peace. Peace is a fruit of the Holy Spirit(Gal 5) 

All of the above begs the question of global peace. What of the current ceasefire and exchange between Israel and Hamas? The world is grateful for the pause, but can we call it incarnate peace. Whatever the circumstance the believer holds the following: “Earthly peace is an image and fruit of the peace of Christ, the Messianic Prince of Peace”(CCC 2305)
Before the reader dismisses any connection the war in the Middle East, let us turn to thePope first blessing for the masses gathered in St. Peters Square. The Holy Father did not follow the usual protocol of blessing the crowd; he first asked them to pray for peace, I am sure. In the crowd would be as John Dreden said of Chaucer's Cantlebury Tales: “Here's God's aplenty".

In the masses before the Holy Father would be priests, nuns, other denominations, people of goodwill, and nonbelievers Francis asked for a moment of silence. Only God would know the heart of each individual, but by calling on the crowd for silence he was following a truth from Vatican II

In sum shalom, peace arises from the Risen Lord.

References:
Catechism of the Catholic Church, CCCB: Ottawa 1994(1084,1085)