“Jesus came, although the doors were
locked, and stood in their midst and said, ‘Peace be with you.’” – Jn 20:26
The image of Jesus going through
locked doors is a most consoling image of faith for me. Twice in today’s
Gospel, the disciples were presented as confined within closed doors, locked in
because of fear. Twice Jesus is seen as coming through locked doors and
standing in the midst of that frightened and depressed group, breathing peace
into them. During the first time, Jesus repeats the greeting again, “Peace be
with you.” He must have sensed that they needed extra help to let his “shalom”
greeting sink in.
There have been countless times in
my life when I have been confined, even locked in because of fear. Fears that
arise from the lack of self-confidence, from inability to accept personal
failures, from apprehension that I can never be freed from childhood traumas,
from feeling alone, from being misunderstood, from resentment, from
uncertainty, etc. Other times, I’ve been huddled with others, sealed in by fear
of unjust treatment, abuse of power, retribution by authorities, betrayal of
vision, or a general sense of helplessness and powerlessness. And yet, the Risen
One has again and again entered these experiences of personal and collective
prisons and breathed out the peace of the Holy Spirit.
This is the greatest expression of
divine mercy: There is no hell, no communal injustice, no private hell of
wound, depression, fear, sickness or even bitterness that God's love cannot and
will not descend into, breathing in consolation, drawing out peace. It’s
consoling that Easter is a season of 50 days until Pentecost. There are more
than 40 days for the promise of “peace be with you” to take root in our lives,
again and again, especially when we offer this peace to one another as Mass and
beyond.
Lord Jesus,
breathe peace into the places of fear in my life and help me to be your
healing, merciful love.
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