July 6, 2025
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Peace be With You – an Underrated Gift
Our Gospel reading today speaks of amazing things.
Jesus sends out seventy-two of his followers ahead of him to every town and place. We hear that they return with joy, knowing that they’ve been able to heal the sick and that even the demons have become subject to them when they commanded them in the name of Jesus.
But perhaps the most important message that they are to take with them is one of peace:
“Peace be to this house!”
It’s wonderful and beautiful that the Lord wishes to use us as his instruments to bring healing – at all levels –to those who are suffering. The goal of this healing, we might say, is peace. For the kingdom of God is a kingdom of peace (c.f. Rom 14:7 – “For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit”.).
This peace is not merely an absence of fighting or squabbles – although it is those things. It is “shalom”– a wholeness, completion or flourishing.
The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church has something beautiful to say about this peace:
The promise of peace that runs through the entire Old Testament finds its fulfilment in the very person of Jesus. Peace, in fact, is the messianic attribute par excellence, in which all other beneficial effects of salvation are included. The Hebrew word “shalom” expresses this fullness of meaning in its etymological sense of “completeness”…The kingdom of the Messiah is precisely the kingdom of peace…Jesus “is our peace” (Eph 2:14). He has broken down the dividing wall of hostility among people, reconciling them with God (cf. Eph 2:14-16). This is the very effective simplicity with which Saint Paul indicates the radical motivation spurring Christians to undertake a life and a mission of peace.
On the eve of his death, Jesus speaks of his loving relation with the Father and the unifying power that this love bestows upon his disciples. It is a farewell discourse which reveals the profound meaning of his life and can be considered a summary of all his teaching. The gift of peace is the seal on his spiritual testament: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you” (Jn 14:27). The words of the Risen Lord will not be any different; every time that he meets his disciples they receive from him the greeting and gift of peace: “Peace be with you”.
So, an invitation this weekend to receive the peace which the Risen Christ wishes to bring to your house. Will you let Him enter and fill you with his presence, allowing his peace to “guard your heart and mind” (c.f. Phil 4:6-7)?
And a further invitation for you to be a channel, an instrument, an emissary of peace. Will you take the peace of the Risen Lord out like a river into the troubled places of our villages, towns, cities and world? Will you take Jesus Himself, given to you fully in the Eucharist, wherever you find yourself this week?
Again today it is not easy to make connections between the readings or to find a common theme. However it might be interesting to try to emphasise how the Kingdom of God is very near in the lives of the people who have gathered for the Mass. ‘Where is the Kingdom’ might be a question that could be asked in the Penitential Rite for example after the Introduction might be added:
Pr. …. call to mind our sins.
In the Gospel reading today Jesus tells us that ‘the Kingdom of God is very near to you’.
How much do we ignore his words
and fail to discern the Kingdom
or be grateful for it?
(Make sure we pause for a few minutes reflection)
Lord Jesus,
the Kingdom of God is being established all around us
by people of every faith and none
who are responding to the work of the Spirit within their hearts.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ Jesus,
forgive us our blindness
and our unwillingness
to see your Spirit at work in our world.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord Jesus,
open our eyes
to see the Kingdom wherever there is love
and make us truly grateful
Lord, have mercy.
May almighty God etc.
Maybe there might be posters illustrating where the Kingdom is in the local community, Food Banks, Hospices, Help the elderly and so on.
Note: These hymns have been chosen from different sources.
God has chosen me (CFE212, L858)
We have a gospel to proclaim (CFE778, L852)
Forth in the peace of Christ (CFE183, L853, LHON263)
Make me a channel of your peace (CFE478, L898, LHON470)
Peace is flowing like a river (CFE595, L902, LHON572)
Key
CFE - Celebration Hymnal for Everyone
L – Laudate
LHON – Liturgical Hymns Old and New (Mayhew, 1999)
TCH – The Catholic Hymnbook (Gracewing)
Do you have questions about the liturgy and how we are called to participate in it? Explore how the Church councils, saints and popes have answered this key question and many more.
Every movement of the Mass is rich in meaning but we can become over familiar with it. Rediscover the Mass and explore how it relates to the Exodus story, where many of its rituals come from and how it makes Jesus present to us today.
