The Gift of Peace

Sensing that the end was near, you gathered your companions to say farewell.  They didn’t understand.  How could they imagine what lay ahead?  You gave them a gift to sustain them through the troubles coming down.  This gift you called peace.

Some call peace a dream.  The great work of history seems to be war.  Who really thinks about peace?  Lasting peace will follow from the just war that was a last resort.  Save your tenderness for later.  For now, stick to the facts of this harsh reality.  Be prepared.

We didn’t find Your peace on the battlefields.  Discouraged, we turn inward.  Let us squeeze into the recesses of our unassailable heart.  Here at last harmony unfolds.  The noisy, troubling world fades away.

But You have something else in mind.  Your peace does not sink into silence or tranquility.  You keep turning us around.  We live in Your world.  This world matters. 

When he was stoned and left for dead, his friends surrounded him.  Lifted again by love, he went back to the town.  He would not stay silent.  He would not stay dead.  The gift bestowed upon him must be given away. 

God, you favor us with many gifts.  Your peace crosses every border.  No one is excluded.  What more can we do with our lives?  Show us Your peace that surpasses our understanding.