HE IS OUR PEACE

Creation is one, every creature is in communion with every other
and lives in harmony and security having as its goal the joy
and fullness of every other creature.

W. Brueggemann

From the Gospel passage of this Sunday we highlight – given the world situation we are living in – only one expression of Jesus: «Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you» (Jn 14:27). Peace, as is known, is one of the names of God: «The Lord is peace» (YHWH-Shalòm) (Jdc 6:24). Furthermore, peace is a person, so much so that Micah, announcing the messianic child, will say that: «He himself will be peace!» (5,4). In the Pauline writings we find the expression: «The God of peace» (cf. Rom 15,33; 16,20; 1 Cor 14,33; 2 Cor 13,11; Phil 4,9; 1 Thess 5,23) and: «The Lord of peace» (cf. 2 Thess 3,16). Paul, in a fragment of great theological depth (cf. Eph 2,11-18), points to Jesus as the fulfilment of the announcement and the expectation of the prophets: «(Jesus Christ) is our peace» (Eph 2,14). The apostle also declares that peace is not born so much from the union of the two peoples who have come to faith (Jews and Gentiles) as from a movement forward, towards God. Therefore, not only a simple horizontal but vertical path that generates a new world, a new humanity. And here Paul introduces the Christian difference, that is, he speaks of how this peace has already been realized through the cross. Therefore, peace not only has a high price but above all passes through the free act of Christ, who on the cross gave himself, reconciling all humanity to God. Jesus then not only built peace and invited his disciples to do the same (cf. Mt 5:9) but he placed himself as the constituent of peace, as a decisive factor of unity. Peace therefore has its origin in God, is mediated by Christ, builds the Church and from it passes to the entire world. The Christian community is within this dynamic and is called to be a splendid and shining icon and at the same time an instrument among the people. Without this universal tension, the movement of pacification that descends from the Father would be interrupted. But the Christian community knows, or should know, that peace always has a high price, and that to build it one always passes through the thicket of the cross, that is, the free offering of oneself in love. This is why it always keeps its gaze fixed on the Crucifix. In this regard, the icon that we propose comes from the genius of Salvador Dalì (1904-1989) and is the Crucified Christ of Saint John of the Cross (1951). Dalì said that it was born from a cosmic dream. The Author does not so much highlight the suffering of the Crucifix, but rather its power seen as the source of unlimited saving energy for the universe.

Commentary by b. Sandro Carotta, osb
Abbazia di Praglia (Italy)

Translation by f. Mark Hargreaves,
Prinknash Abbey