May 25, 2025
“My peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you, but I do not give it to you as the world gives it.” Jn.
I will reflect on this phrase from today’s Gospel. I will begin with the following questions: What kind of peace do we live in our current days? And what kind of peace does Jesus leave us as his disciples?
Today, we live in a time that is in great need of peace. And it is not just about the absence of wars. It is about the peace that is the daughter of justice, which reintegrates the sons and daughters of God into this world. The peace that interconnects, that connects, that makes vital energy flow and that allows us to continue co-creating and improving God’s work. This is the peace we need.
This is because if we lived in peace, if we respected one another, if we were connected by the love that emanated from God when he carefully shaped us individually, we would not be self-destructing.
We have been walking down paths that are increasingly moving away from original love which binds bonds, and becoming sinful, that is, breaking relationships. And for this very reason, today we are experiencing several armed conflicts around the world. Very old conflicts and more recent conflicts. More visible conflicts, such as those taking place in Gaza and Ukraine. And others that are less visible, such as the various conflicts taking place throughout the African continent.
On one hand, there is conflict, usually the result of greed and power struggles. On the other, there are those who believe that peace will be achieved by simply laying down arms. However, in these processes of “peace negotiations,” the cost is sometimes high for the sons and daughters of God who suffer the most – the little ones. This is because sometimes dignity and freedom are negotiated on the peace benches.
I start to think, faced with the evangelical provocation: how can peace be built using unfair parameters? When, in order to reestablish peace, land, miners and so many other things that mortally wound the dignity of the daughters and sons of God are used as bargaining chips?
Today, the John’s community reminds us that this is not the peace of Jesus. The peace of Jesus is the one that puts back into the circle what was excluded; that restores dignity to women who have been violated and treated as objects; that denounces false speeches and unjust laws that create heavy burdens for the people of God to bear.
The peace that Jesus gives is not a quiet, silent, muzzled, oppressed peace. On the contrary, it disturbs those who are complacent, because it generates Justice, it generates life. May we be Peace for one another in this world of ours that is so in need of peace.
Meet Sister Sandra Araujo Santos, SNDdeN
