Faith Filled Friday: The Nature of Christ’s Peace

I came across this striking quote in the October 2025 issue of Magnificat (Vol. 27, No.8) in one of the meditations (p. 280-1) by the Mexican mystic and spiritual writer Blessed Concepción Cabrera de Armida who is sometimes referred to as Blessed Conchita.  According to her Wikipedia entry, she was a prolific writer.  This quote comes from a book she wrote on meditating on the nature of Jesus, both on His human and divine natures, What Jesus is Like.  I’ve put that book in my cart for a future purchase.  Looks like a great advent read.

 

Fr. Mark Goring tells us a little about Blessed Conchita as he describes another of her books.

 

Here is this most notable quote.

 

Peace is not something negative: a lack of conflict.  It is rather something positive: a glimpse of heaven, a beam of tranquility, a ray of God’s own happiness.  The calm that comes from peace is not transitory, but something that is permanent and immortal, like a day when the sun does not set…. The person who is at peace is like a lake that is perfectly serene.  A lake in which God is reflected, in which Jesus the God-Man is imaged.  To achieve that peace, that serenity, one needs a profound humility, a great purity of heart, a tranquil conscience, and a trusting love…. Suffering which we willingly accept brings us peace.  It makes us like him.

            -Blessed Concepción Cabrera de Armida 

First, the notion that peace is a positive value rather than a negative runs counter to our temporal minds.  We envision peace coming after conflict and turmoil, such as after war or some great disturbance.  But I think she’s got that right.  War and turmoil take peace away.

Second, she tries to describe what that peace is: “a glimpse of heaven, a beam of tranquility, a ray of God’s own happiness.”.  It is not transitory but everlasting, “like a day when the sun does not set.”  It comes from God and is God. 

Third, she describes attributes of a person who has this peace: a perfectly serene lake which reflects Jesus.  Jesus is peace and we achieve peace by becoming Him.  One needs humility, purity, conscience (which can be seen as righteousness), and love.  This comes right out of the Beatitudes (Mt 5:3-12).  To be blessed is to achieve the beatitudes and perhaps make them manifest in the world.  “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God.”  When I read that verse, I imagine “peacemakers” as those who resolve conflicts and wars.  But that might be too narrow a definition.  Peacemakers are those bring tranquility to a moment.  “Lord make me an instrument of your peace” St. Francis of Assisi is said to have prayed.  Bringing such peace is bringing Christ to the moment.

Fourth, to arrive at those attributes, we have to become Christ, especially through the willing acceptance of suffering.  Jesus gives this advice to Martha in Luke 10:41-42 when Jesus says to the hyperactive Martha in response to Martha’s sister Mary: “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.  There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.”  Mary has achieved peace in Christ.

I must say that arriving at such peace is very hard to do.  To willingly go through Christ’s passion and crucifixion is not easy in this temporal world.  After all, on this side of heaven, the sunset does give way to nightfall.

Conchita’s passage is so wonderful, I consider it Found Poetry.  Found poetry are passages that were not meant as a poem but a reader sees poetry in it.  With all due respect to Conchita, let me take the parts of her passage and arrange it as a poem.  Remember, this is Conchita’s work, not mine.

 

Peace

 

A sudden glimpse, a beam of tranquility,

The ray of God’s own blessedness from His eternal face,

We sit below a sunset that never ends,

Nightfall is extinguished, and with that

The anxiety that is not of the better part.

 

Peace came dropping slow.

The drops now pooled into a smooth lake.

What is that reflection staring back?  God’s face!

We see Jesus in the circles of a tarn.

We sit at His feet reflecting light.

 

The kingdom is for the meek and merciful,

The purity of one’s heart shows us God.

We remember the trials of persecution and of turmoil;

We now have comfort and are satisfied.

We are planted at our seats as the children of God.

 

Haha, that was fun composing it.  Let me know if my poem is any good.

Sunday Meditation: The Peace of Christ

As in last week, the Sixth Sunday in Easter of Year C keeps the Gospel reading in the Farewell Discourse. Here Jesus tells the apostles of the coming Holy Spirit.  This is a rather complicated passage.  Notice the progression of thought.  It starts with mutual love with the Father and moves to “we” will come to dwell in those who are in that love, making a dwelling place.  Then the Holy Spirit, referred to as the “Advocate,” or, in other translations, the “Paraclete,” will guide and teach those in that love.  The Holy Spirit will bring you peace.  So who is the “we”? 

 

Jesus said to his disciples:

“Whoever loves me will keep my word,

and my Father will love him,

and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.

Whoever does not love me does not keep my words;

yet the word you hear is not mine

but that of the Father who sent me.

 

“I have told you this while I am with you.

The Advocate, the Holy Spirit,

whom the Father will send in my name,

will teach you everything

and remind you of all that I told you.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.

Not as the world gives do I give it to you.

Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.

You heard me tell you,

‘I am going away and I will come back to you.’

If you loved me,

you would rejoice that I am going to the Father;

for the Father is greater than I.

And now I have told you this before it happens,

so that when it happens you may believe.”

~Jn 14:23-29

 

The “we” is the Trinity!  This Sunday I am going back to Fr. Tim Peters who does a magnificent job explaining the Gospel.

 

I am going to Fr. Peter Hahn of the St. Leo the Great Church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania for the pastoral homily.

The peace of Christ is “the most priceless gift and treasure that you and I can have.”

 

Sunday Meditation: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you."

 

For the hymn, we go back to John Michael Talbot, with his simply titled, “Peace.”  There is quite long introduction to this piece before we get lyrics, so hang in there.

 

Those were the first words of Pope Leo when he came out on the balcony, “Peace be with all of you.”

Sunday Meditation: After the Road to Emmaus

We all recall the Road to Emmaus passage where two disciples, on the road to Emmaus having just come from Jerusalem where Christ was crucified, encounter the Risen Christ, do not recognize Him, walk with Him while He explains the scriptural passages of the Messiah, and finally recognize in the breaking of the bread whereupon He vanishes.   That’s in Luke 24:13-34.  Today’s Gospel reading continues that story with what happens afterward.  Those same two disciples rush back to Jerusalem to tell the others what happened.

 

The two disciples recounted what had taken place on the way,

and how Jesus was made known to them

in the breaking of bread.

 

While they were still speaking about this,

he stood in their midst and said to them,

"Peace be with you."

But they were startled and terrified

and thought that they were seeing a ghost.

Then he said to them, "Why are you troubled?

And why do questions arise in your hearts?

Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself.

Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones

as you can see I have."

And as he said this,

he showed them his hands and his feet.

While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed,

he asked them, "Have you anything here to eat?"

They gave him a piece of baked fish;

he took it and ate it in front of them.

 

He said to them,

"These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you,

that everything written about me in the law of Moses

and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled."

Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.

And he said to them,

"Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer

and rise from the dead on the third day

and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins,

would be preached in his name

to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

You are witnesses of these things."

~Lk 24:36-48

So Jesus appears to all of them as the two from the road to Emmaus meetup with the other disciples.  And just as in last week’s reading of Thomas being shown the wounds in the hands (Jn 20:19-31), Jesus shows all the physical wounds of His physically resurrected body.  What does this all mean?  Bishop Robert Barron gets to the heart of it this week.

 

What this means is that we Christians believe in the bodily resurrection because Christ has shown us the way. 

Sunday Meditation: "Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.

I have been listening to John Michael Talbot songs again.  He is just wonderful.  This one connects with today’s Gospel reading, “I am the Resurrection.”

 

Perhaps I will include a song with these Sunday Meditations that coordinate themes.  Is that something you would enjoy?

Sunday Meditation: Divine Mercy Sunday

Easter has passed and we like the apostles are dazed with the events of the past week.  Jesus has died, and some have seen the Risen Man.  But we hide in fear and doubt.  Until suddenly He appears with the word of Peace. 

We are now in the Easter season, and we come to the Second Sunday of Easter, the first being Easter itself.  The reading is the same for all three years of the lectionary.  We are asked to believe.

 

On the evening of that first day of the week,

when the doors were locked, where the disciples were,

for fear of the Jews,

Jesus came and stood in their midst

and said to them, "Peace be with you."

When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.

The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.

Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you.

As the Father has sent me, so I send you."

And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them,

"Receive the Holy Spirit.

Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them,

and whose sins you retain are retained."

 

Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve,

was not with them when Jesus came.

So the other disciples said to him, "We have seen the Lord."

But he said to them,

"Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands

and put my finger into the nailmarks

and put my hand into his side, I will not believe."

 

Now a week later his disciples were again inside

and Thomas was with them.

Jesus came, although the doors were locked,

and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with you."

Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands,

and bring your hand and put it into my side,

and do not be unbelieving, but believe."

Thomas answered and said to him, "My Lord and my God!"

Jesus said to him, "Have you come to believe because you have seen me?

Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed."

 

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples

that are not written in this book.

But these are written that you may come to believe

that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,

and that through this belief you may have life in his name.

~Jn 20:19-31

In the year 2000, the Second Sunday of Easter has been observed as the Feast of Divine Mercy, authorized by Pope John Paul II, who had a devotion to St. Maria Faustina.  Fr. Joseph Mary of the Capuchins Franciscan gives a wonderful homily, capturing the fear and message of peace of the day.

 

I bet no one in the whole world has used Orwell's 1984 as part of a Divine Mercy Sunday homily.  Well done!  And that is the connection to “Peace” or “Shalom,” or as Father explains, “Wholeness.”  Christ brings wholeness to a fragmented world.

Sunday Meditation: "Peace be with you."

Finally, I embedded Annie Karto’s “Divine Mercy Flood My Soul” some 11 years ago for Divine Mercy Sunday.  I love it so I will post it again, only a different video with the lyrics.

 

Faith Filled Friday: Prayer For Peace

When the world is a mess, let us head our Holy Father and seek prayer.

Almighty God, in whose hands lies the destiny of men and nations, Let not the hopes of men perish, nor the sacrifices of men be in vain. O holy and life-giving Spirit, enable us by thy grace to root out from our common life the bitterness of ancient wrongs and the thirst to avenge the betrayals of long ago. Save us from the tyranny of history and set us free in a new obedience to serve each other in the present hour. Accepting the redemption wrought for us, we believe that all our sins of yesterday are covered by thy mercy; Grant us therefore grace and courage to give and to receive the forgiveness which alone can heal today's wounds. Draw us, O Lord, towards loving kindness and guide us into the way of peace.