Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not
as the world gives peace do I give peace. Usually when we think of peace we
consider the end of hostilities between warring nations, or even warring
members of a family. Well, that is not the peace the Lord gives. The peace of
the Lord is the joy we experience when we are united to Him. This is the peace
that Jesus felt on the cross when He was united to His Father will, completing
the work of our redemption. This is the peace that the martyrs felt when others
brutalized them for refusing to give up Jesus Christ. This is the peace that we
all feel when we are mocked for taking our faith, our commitment to the Lord,
so seriously that we refuse to join in with the immorality of our particular
societies, be that at school, in the neighborhood, or even within the country…
There
is a wonderful mystery of our lives that the immoral world will never
understand: Saying Yes to Christ does
not make every day a Good Friday. Saying Yes
to Christ makes every day an Easter Sunday.
Our
friends, our neighbors, the members of our families, come to us with their
problems, their needs, their fears. Why? Well, because they want us to share
our peace with them. They want us to share with them the Peace of Christ. We
would like to solve other people’s problems. We would like to make their pain
go away. But, very often, we cannot do either. We can do something far greater,
though. We can encourage them to be united to the Lord and trust in Him. We can
offer them the peace that has been given to us, the Peace of the Lord.
And
this why Christ came: to replace chaos with calm, hatred with love, and turmoil
with peace. Union with Jesus puts all the difficulties of the world, including
our personal worlds, into perspective.
Also,
we are beginning the month of May, a month traditionally dedicated to Mary in
many cultures. May is considered the season of the beginning of new life.
Already in Greek culture, May was dedicated to Artemis, the goddess of
fecundity. In Roman culture, May was dedicated to Flora, the goddess of bloom,
of blossoms. The Romans celebrated ludi
florales (literally: floral games) at the end of April, asking the
intercession of Flora for all that blooms. This is also related to the medieval
practice of expelling winter[1].
Today, let us ask Our Lady that with the help of the grace which she will
surely obtain from her Son, she will make us simple, childlike, and little in
our own eyes.
God
will reward our external humility by using this very simplicity to bring souls
to Himself, even as through Our Lady under His divine Son, He brings all of the
sons and daughters of Adam back to the Creator from whom they came. May the
Peace of Christ be with you all, always ■
[1] Since medieval times, we have
had the combination between Mary and the month of May. Among the earliest
witnesses are: Alphonsus X, el sabio, King of Castille, Spain with his Cantigas
de Santa Maria. Here and elsewhere, both Mary and the month of May are
greeted, welcomed and celebrated on specific days in May.
