PEACE BE WITH YOU!

In the evening of that same day, the first day of the week, the doors were closed in the room where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them. He said to them, ‘Peace be with you’, and showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were filled with joy when they saw the Lord, and he said to them again, ‘Peace be with you’.

In recent times, shirts with words "Keep (Be) Calm..." became a fad, almost a craze. Words of assurance or simply anything that can keep one calm would always follow these two words. These shirts tend to give someone wearing them a kind of assurance that everything would be alright. But even before these "Be Calm..." shirts, the Lord has His own way of assuring us of a good life, of a better life.  

Peace be with you! These are the words our risen Lord used to greet his apostles. Behind barred doors and fear in their hearts; because they were afraid of the Jews, the Lord gives to them peace. In this context, the Lord seems to say to them be at peace; Kalma lang!

Baruch Spinoza says "Peace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice." Eight days after His Resurrection, the Lord greets His apostles with Peace. The Lord knows after seeing His passion and death, they are not at peace. They are at a loss; at a loss for words, at a loss for meanings of the things they have experienced. In the midst of war faced from within by the apostles, the Lord directs them, give them the disposition to see rightly, to banish the darkness in their minds and hearts, to shun away doubts and fears. The Lord says to them that The strife is o'er, the battle done; Now is the Victor's triumph won; Now be the song of praise begun, Death's mightiest powers have done their worst, And Jesus hath His foes dispersed; Let shouts of praise and joy outburst. Be calm for the battle against death had been won for you!  

Is this not the same message that the Lord is telling? Peace be with you! Be at peace my friend.

Today, we fight a lot of wars, may it be within or without; war against criminality, terrorism, graft and corruption, poverty, war against insecurity, infidelity, disordered love, etc. We have a lot of battles in our lives. Everyday we struggle to live in our offices, communities, families. In the midst of these wars, struggles, confusion in our lives, the Lord says to us; "Hilario, Peace be with you! Kalma lang! Know that I, the Lord am Your God, had won the greatest battle of all (against death) for you. Will I not give these battles to you too? Pinaglaban kita sa kasalanan at kamatayan. Di ba kita ipaglalaban sa mga problema mo ngayon?" Be calm!