Peace

Date: 05 May 2007 14:01:59

The word "peace" occurs with great frequency in Orthodox Eastern Rite(*) services: the priest at many and varied places proclaims, "Peace be to you.", and we respond, "And with your spirit." I know in the 'western' churches there are similar exchanges, and at the kiss of peace peace is exchanged between congregation members (in the Orthodox Eastern Rite, the kiss of peace is often only exchanged between clergy, though in some parishes, including my own, the congregation shares it with the words, "Christ is in our midst! / He is and ever shall be!", or, currently during the Paschal season, "Christ is risen! / Truly, He is risen!")

Hearing the word itself used in secular as well as liturgical contexts, I find I can often lose meaning of all it implies. The comment under the title on Jan's blog, Shalom, reminds me of the meaning in one language: Shalom has been one of my favourite words for a long while. It's more than a greeting, encompassing wholeness, health, well-being, integrity, healing. And I've noticed its presence, as well as the presence of God, in various Arabic greetings and farewells I've learnt, which I also found interesting.

I was also reminded of its deeper meaning while reading the commentary associated with the Epistle to the Ephesians 1:2 in the Navarre Bible: Captivity Epistles:

"Shalom!" -- "Peace!" -- is the usual way Jews greet one another. According to the prophets, peace was one of the gifts the Messiah would bring. After the incarnation of the Son of God, now that the "prince of peace" has come among men (c.f. Is 9:6), when the Apostles use this greeting they are joyfully proclaiming the advent of messianic peace: all good things, heavenly and earthly, are attainable because by his death and resurrection Jesus, the Messiah, has removed, once and for all, the enmity between God and men: "since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom 5:1).

...joyfully proclaiming the advent of messianic peace...: while this could be seen as pie-in-the-sky-thinking, I see its truth and its great joy -- Jesus truly, through His death and resurrection, gave us peace and continues to give us peace -- not worldly peace, for His Kingdom is not of this world, but the inner peace that our souls, 'restless until they find their rest in Him' (c.f. St Augustine), desire. As Jesus gave peace to the Apostles (John 14:27) and greeted them after His Resurrection with the words, "Peace be with you" (John 20:19; John 20:21; John 20:26) -- and this is continued in our worship to this very day. A great blessing, and comfort, and, at times -- not always, I admit -- during the Divine Liturgy or another service, an overwhelming sense of peace, of quiet, yet seemingly unbounded, joy, fills me: if only for an instant. And at that point, for that instant in time, I feel as if I have encountered, have been given a foretaste of, the Divine Majesty and the 'peace that surpasses all understanding'.

(*) as was mentioned to me, Orthodoxy does have Western Rite services, so I should be more descriptive with my words -- though when I'm babbling on you should generally assume I'm talking about the Eastern / Byzantine rite, in which I worship and have found my home