The words from today’s Gospel are simple. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.”  We say an echo of those words in every Mass as the handshake of peace where we acknowledge and greet our neighbors in the pews or chairs next to us. But how long do we carry that sentiment in our hearts and in our actions? Maybe not long, if a parish parking lot after Mass is any indication. Or the grocery store line. Or work-related irritants. Or in conversations that involve mean comments about another.

How can I take that peace that Jesus gives to me and pass it on? It can’t just be those few minutes at Mass where I smile and say the right things to those around me. I have to live my faith and that peace in my everyday life. St. Ignatius tells us to find God in all things. That’s a good start. Jesuit charisms tell us to be men and women for and with others. I feel that is extending the peace of Christ in my everyday life in ways that I can is one way to be for and with others.  It is in the small things and the large things. I can let other cars go in front of me in that exodus from the church parking lot. I can be friendly to the grocery store clerk and see her as a person, not just a means to getting my errands done. When I am irritated, I can take a deep breath and think peace as a way to temper my conversations.