Recently, I was in Europe with my wife, and we spent a day in Berlin, Germany. It is a beautiful city in general, but it is also very somber and poignant in places. One of the things we noticed was that nearly all the older buildings that had not been destroyed during World War II are pockmarked with countless bullet and shrapnel holes. At one point, as I walked along, I stopped, reached up and touched some of those holes, which are generally about the size of a nickel or quarter.
It gave me a lot to think about, reminding me how terribly scarred our world is by war, not just 80 years ago when Berlin fell but today as well. There is turbulence, anger, war, harm and damage around the world and even, to a lesser degree, here in our own country. Clearly, we need true peace.
With that in mind, I also recalled Jesus’ wounded body – how the injuries from the violence of His passion and death still showed after His glorious resurrection, and His first words to the Apostles were, “Peace be with you.”
All this led me to consider Pope Leo XIV’s first words on the balcony in the Vatican when he was introduced as our new Holy Father: “Peace be with you.” He was reflecting on Jesus’ words to the Apostles after His resurrection. And, Pope Leo added to those four words that we listened to so joyfully: “Dearest brothers and sisters, this is the first greeting of the Risen Christ, the Good Shepherd who laid down His life for the flock of God. I too wish that this greeting of peace may enter our hearts and reach your families, all people wherever they may be, every nation, the whole world: peace be with you.”
The Holy Father was not just wishing peace upon the people there, not just peace to his Catholic flock around the world, but peace to all people everywhere, no matter who they are, with no limitations on who deserved the blessing of peace.
We recently celebrated the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, and in the second reading that day, St. Paul’s words about peace rang out clearly from sacred scripture: “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ … ” (Romans 5:1). Peace, and the grace that comes with it, are presented throughout sacred scripture. The challenge for us today is to consider that word peace in the midst of the scarred and wounded world we live in and then both seek out peace in our lives and be peacemakers.
In his letter to the Romans, St. Paul gives us the key to accomplishing that. The path to true peace and being a peacemaker is through God the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. God’s peace is not just the absence of war, injury, anger, violence. It also a love for others – all others – not just the people who are like us, not just the ones who are likeminded with us. No. It is everyone. No matter who they are.
Pope Leo, on that first day of his papacy, also said, “This is the peace of the Risen Christ — a peace that is disarmed and disarming, humble and enduring. It comes from God, who loves us all unconditionally.”
Jesus promises His followers throughout time that in the Holy Trinity that God is, we are able to find our way through life’s struggles and discover true peace in the Lord, a peace not based on our wants but on God’s love, a peace that sets aside differences and disputes for the greater good, a peace that can even lead to enemies eventually becoming forgiving friends.
Through the Trinity, we find peace in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, and we are called to model ourselves on His example and teaching, being the same loving peacemaker Jesus was. He became human to walk with us and help us understand God more deeply. Each time we are at Mass, the Eucharist nourishes us, strengthening us to be peace filled and peacemakers.
Through the Trinity, we have the Father, who created the universe and, out of love, gave us the incredible gift of life, intelligence and awareness. Let’s appreciate what the Father has done for us and not lay waste to what the Father created. Let us turn to peace and be in harmony with whom and what God created out of love for us.
Through the Trinity, we have the gift of the Holy Spirit. Jesus tells us the Spirit will glorify Him, “because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason, I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.”
The Father and Son sends the Spirit to be our guide, our source of wisdom. Let us turn to the Spirit in prayer, asking for help, prayers like the “Come Holy Spirit” or similar requests for that wisdom and guidance.
Let us go forth every day with the true peace of God in our minds and hearts, ready, through our humble trust in God, to be peacemakers who offer not just words of peace to others but who take actions that foster peace: charitable responses to others, actions of care and concern, a willingness to forgive others for their faults and trespasses, and actions that make amends for our own faults and trespasses against others. Let us benefit from and grow through the love of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit who created us, nourishes us, and guides us.