what is peace? 5th week easter tuesday 2014

What is this peace which Christ is leaving his disciples?  What is the peace of Christ?

Peace is a biblical word.  In the original Hebrew the word for peace is shalom.  Shalom means to be whole, to be complete.  That is why the greeting shalom can mean a lot – it can mean prosperity and well-being, it can mean harmony and concord, it can mean success, it can mean tranquility.  It is a state when the person becomes whole, when a person becomes what God intended him to become.

When shalom was translated into Greek they used the Greek word eirene.  Eirene means inner peace wherein the person has no conflicts within, when a person does not have hostile feelings.   Later still the word evolved so that eirene or peace means the good that comes from God. 

Peace is not peace because there is absence of hostility.  Peace is the absence of hostility, peace is the absence of conflicts because one is filled with the goodness of God, and so we become complete, we become whole. 

We can only become greedy when we feel lacking, and when we feel lacking we hoard, we accumulate things, then we even do injustice to others.  There is no contentment.  That is why peace is a good that comes from God.  It can never be brought about by the things of this world because peace is an awareness of God who fills us with his goodness.  This si the point of Jesus.  Peace can only come from him and this peace which is gives is not the kind of peace which the world promises.

This is where our 3^rd cardinal virtue, the virtue of justice, becomes important in establishing peace.  Peace according to St. Augustine is tranquillitas ordinis, the tranquility of order – ang tanan nagakabuhi santu sa iya dignidad, ang tanan nga tawo nagakabuhi angay sa iya pagkatawo, ang tanan ginatratar angay kag santu sa tinutyo sang Dios para sa sini nga tinuga.  Kon gina-abusaran ta gani ang isa kag isa, then we cannot have peace, because the evil that we do prevents others from living the kind of life God intended him or her to live, or because the things of this world are not treated with respect.  Halimbawa kon maayo pa ang pagtratar mo sa ido mo sang sa imo isigkatawo then there can be no peace because there is no tranquility of order.  Kon abusaran naton aton palibot, panghaboy lang sang plastic bisan diin, wala kita nagagamit reusable nga bag, then we cannot have peace because there is no respect for nature, there is not tranquility of order.  That is why Pope Paul VI, the soon to be declared saint, said, if you want peace, then work for justice.  When we are just, when we give to each one his due, they live up to their dignity as sons and daughters of God, and we live up to our dignity as brothers and sisters.  Shalom, eirene, tranquillitas ordinis - we become whole and complete, we are filled with the good that can only come from God, and every lives according to his or her God-given dignity.   That is why if you want peace, then work for justice.