For so many years, my life was super busy. I had three full time jobs, lived at the most active church in Arizona, and had tons of friends who wanted to spend time together. I enjoyed my life, but I would often think to myself, “I wish I had some peace and quiet.” Then, all my bad stuff happened. And, what happened was that I had a ton of quiet, but no peace. It was then I realized that they were not the same. Peace was not just the lack of noise and activity, but something deeper.
Our theme for the third Sunday of Advent is Hope for Peace. What is peace? For our Jewish brothers and sisters, peace is SHALOM. Peace for Jews had to do with living in a just world, on the land given by God, and living in a right relationship with each other. In the New Testament, however, peace went deeper. Peace meant hearing and knowing the good news of Jesus Christ. St. Paul saw peace as a partner with grace and it had to do with being reconciled to God. Jesus offered peace to His followers and to the world by forgiving sins and putting us into right relationship with God.
Today, when we hear the word peace, it often means the lack of conflict or the absence of war. There is no doubt that our world longs for this type of peace. The absence of conflict and hate sets the table for us to experience a different type of peace…that is …an interior peace that can be given only by God.
This Advent, we hope for both types of peace. We pray for peace for our world. We ask God to help us to stop the violence that plagues our cities and our world. But we hope for a deeper peace. A peace that happens inside of each of us. This peace is given only by accepting the gift of the infant Jesus (God coming among us), the gift of the crucified Jesus (who reconciled us by His death on the cross) and the gift of Risen Jesus (by His promise if eternal life).
As you read this reflection know that I am with 40 other people in Mexico City. We are going to the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe. While we are there, we will be praying for ourselves and for you that peace would be God’s gift to us. In 1524, when Our Lady appeared to Juan Diego, she ordered him to go and cut the flowers that were growing in the dead of winter. Juan Diego did just that and took them to the bishop. Those flowers, along with the image on the tilma, because a sign of new life for the people of Mexico.
This week, as we focus on hope for peace, I encourage you to go and buy yourself some flowers. In fact, go and buy some for someone else. Pledge to work to make your own life more peaceful and more beautiful. Pledge to pray and to work to make our world more peaceful as well. Our world needs an Advent of peace, understanding, and hope.