3rd Sunday in Advent, 2024 | Peace

 

On the third Sunday of Advent, some church traditions celebrate peace.

In our relatively comfortable North American prosperity, peace frequently means the absence of war and violence or an inner tranquility or bliss.

Over time, Biblical scholars have managed to make this quite complicated. They frequently identify at least three to five kinds or aspects of peace. First, there is the inner peace or tranquility we experience individually. Second, there is peace with other people and, finally, peace among nations, tribes or groups.

The peace we celebrate during the season of Advent is described in Luke 2:14 as announced by the heavenly host. They say, "on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests." It seems to imply some kind of exclusivity. That is not the case, but that will have to be a discussion for another day.

Inner peace is closely related to anxiety or worry. It is hard or impossible to have inner peace when your most basic needs aren't being met. Jesus repeatedly warns us against our obsession with possessions. Listen to him and our yoke will be easy and our burden light (Matthew 11:30). The early church did. They had everything in common (Acts 4:32) and there were no needy persons among them (Acts 4:34).

Peace is also in jeopardy in our relationships with one another. Frequently, other people are the source of much conflict in our lives. Sometimes it is over possessions, but also over power and domination. Again, Jesus has a solution: Turn the other cheek (Matthew 5:39). People aren't generally evil, but everyone has triggers that cause us to forget who we are and overreact. Turning the other cheek effectively disarms the attacker. Jesus himself did not resist when confronted with the ultimate attack on the cross.

It is unlikely that we as individuals can achieve world peace. It is only possible when we do it together. In the meantime, we can retreat to places where no one else wants to live and begin to build a new church from the ground up. As Peter Maurin, co-founder of Catholic Worker Cooperatives, famously says, build a new society within the shell of the old. By our example, we will show the world that the Kingdom of Heaven is possible.

We often forget the most important peace of all, the peace we have with God. Jesus makes it really simple. His peace is based on love. Love God and love one another, he says.