On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.”
Peace be with you…… Can you imagine the deep inner peace the disciples must have felt, after all that had gone on, to see Jesus again and hear him speak these words? Peace be with you.
Peace.
It’s something we all strive to find in our lives. The World tells us how to find that peace – in three ways ……
(1)Get Stuff, (2)Take Control of your lives – live life YOUR way, (3) Don’t be taken advantage of …. by others, by circumstances, and by your body – you don’t need to suffer
It’s a lie. It’s all a lie. It’s a path to a place that is anything but peaceful. But we all live that lie. We buy stuff and more stuff. We aspire to grow into positions of authority. And we deny our own mortality and the suffering that goes with living. And how does it make us feel?
Stressed, Tense, We snap at others, we externalize and blame others. We say there’s too much stress in my job.. Too much stress in my family
.. too much traffic .. Too much to do .. Too much asked of me
And so, what is our normal worldly response? We try to escape. Many go shopping (Upper Canada Mall, Best Buy). So for a moment we can forget the stress, we get home, put on the new clothes, try out the new tech gadget & feel good about ourselves. For a little while. But life creeps in. And then the Credit Card bill comes, and we add a few new items to our Stress list – too much debt, not enough money. So we buy into another illusion – if I get away from my Job, my family, my daily commute, my task list and my task-master, I’ll find peace. So you escape for a few hours, or a few days. Sometimes to a place. Sometimes to a bottle or a drug.
Do we find peace? No. Because you think about the tasks that you let undone. You tell yourself that nobody can do your job, and so the work is piling up. Or worry that maybe you are not missed, and worry about keeping your job.
But most importantly, we can’t run away, because the cause of the stress is within us. our thoughts. Our memories.
As they say on the Rock, No matter where you go, there you are. You can’t escape yourself. And so, you can’t let go of your stuff, You can’t let go of your desire to be in control, You can’t let go of your avoidance of suffering. Well then – what will bring Peace to our soul?
Mercy
Our typical picture of “mercy” is misleading. It is all too Human a definition. It brings to mind a person in power taking it easy on a potential victim. We think of a judge “having mercy” by giving a relatively easy sentence to an offender, or a person in a position of power “having mercy” on those who have no power, or are weak.
But that’s not the concept of mercy in the Bible, of Gods Mercy… of the Divine Mercy. The meaning of mercy in scripture and our tradition is much broader and richer. Let’s start with Old Testament Hebrew … we find two words that can be understood as Mercy.
חסד hesed – is often translated as steadfast love, love that is dependable, righteous, being true to oneself and to one’s promises.
רַחֲמִים rachamim – describes a love that is tender, responsive, compassionate, like a parent responding in love to the sufferings of their child. It comes from a root word rechem, which means a mother’s womb. Thus, there is a special intimacy and responsiveness about this kind of love, and a special concern for the sufferings of others. Indeed, in a number of languages with Arabic roots, this linguistic connection of Mercy to womb is present.
In the New Testament, the Greek word that is usually translated as “mercy” is the word ἔλεος (eleos) which can also be translated as loving kindness or tender compassion. The Greek word comes from a root word meaning oil that is poured out. Thus, when the Church sings in her liturgy the Greek words Kyrie Eleison and Christe Eleison, she is praying that themerciful love of God, the tender compassion of God will be poured out upon God’s children, like holy oil from above. Regardless of the language, the word Mercy is a term used to describe the compassion shown by one person to another, One of the basic virtues of chivalry, Judeo-Christian ethics and Islam. It includes things like
care, making someone else’s problem your concern, and being ready to help those in need.
And it’s not like we don’t have some help with understanding this “Mercy” thing. Our Catholic heritage lists 14 traditional ways to become a merciful person. Seven of them concern physical needs: To feed the hungry; to give drink to the thirsty; to clothe the naked; to shelter the homeless; to visit the sick; to visit those in prison; to bury the dead.
The other seven respond to spiritual and emotional needs: to instruct the ignorant; to counsel the doubtful; to admonish the sinner; to comfort the sorrowful; to forgive injuries; to bear wrongs patiently; to pray for the living and the dead.
All of these actions that can bring you peace are actions you do for others. Nowhere on the list is to buy yourself something, to seek more power and control for yourself, to avoid personal suffering. And therein lies the difference.
The worlds approach is to do for yourself. God’s approach is to do for others. It’s that simple.
But here’s the rub. In as much as we are unable to be merciful in our relationships with others, and with God’s creation, we block God’s Mercy, the Divine Mercy, from being effective in our lives. It doesn’t matter how many chaplets of Divine Mercy we pray if we have not been compassionate to those we have hurt, and forgiving of those who have hurt us. The two go hand in hand. It’s what Jesus said – Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. And in as much as we fail to let go of the hurts others have caused us, to let go of false notions of how we can obtain peace in our lives, we are unable to be merciful and compassionate with others, and we block God’s mercy and compassion from being effective in our lives.
Our faith challenges us to do the work of Jesus today, so doing good (expressing mercy) is your calling too.
And by the way – it’s only side effect is to bring you the Peace in your soul that you have been searching for.
So, when you leave here today, will you continue to seek peace in your life the same old way you have in the past, and get the same old results you have had to date.
Or will you seek a new way?
Will it be the way of the world, or the way of Mercy .
It’s your call.