“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid” (John 14:27)

Jesus takes the traditional Hebrew greeting šālôm (shalom) and recasts it as a gift of salvation.  With Jesus, “peace” is God’s gracious gift that is received by seeking and accepting God’s Will.

Four hundred years after Jesus’ ascension into heaven, Augustine of Hippo – now trending thanks to our new Augustinian Pope Leo – explains Jesus’ gift of peace in terms of “tranquility of order”. For Augustine, peace is neither something we accomplish nor make happen but rather a wonderful personal experience we are able to receive from God.

Since the beginning, our lives are shuttered by disorder from the wounds of Original Sin. Often felt as restlessness or agitation, we long to be freed from such internal distress.  Stated differently, we ache for peace to fill and settle our soul where it is agitated and restless from disorder.

So long as we pursue peace as an object to obtain, it will remain elusive. The pathway to real and lasting peace is found by turning to God and trusting Him with every aspects of our lives – including those that are disordered.

Augustine brilliantly puts it like this: “You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.”