Peace Be with You
The new year has already been underway for ten days as I start this writing this post. The theme of peace seems one that is much needed as a focus right at this time. The now not-so-new Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus is sweeping across the world with breath-taking speed. In recent weeks, relative freedom of movement has been curtailed and there is feeling in the air of resignation, frustration, fatigue, and even some bitterness. I don’t feel these things myself; this is an impression I have from talking with people. What I feel is some sadness and disappointment at the reality of taking extra precautions again, as well as hope. I can’t help it. I just have a feeling that this is the time when it’s “darkest before the dawn.” May it be so.
In the United States, January 6th marked the one-year anniversary of what I think of as, “the storming of the Capitol” (some news sources call it, “the insurrection,” others, “the attack on the Capitol.”) The event itself symbolizes the significant division along party and political lines that characterizes American society in recent years. In brief, on that day a year ago, the American Congress in Washington, DC, met to certify the United States presidential election results, and formally declare our current president, Joe Biden, the new president. A very large crowd of people who had been at a nearby rally organized by the former president, Donald Trump, became angry and violent. There were two months of dramatic lead up to January 6th, after the presidential election itself in early November, 2020. The main cause of dissension was a disagreement about who won the election. The people who stormed the Capitol believed it was the former president. In anger, they surged onto the steps of the Capitol, breaking windows, and gaining entrance to the building causing very grave mayhem. In addition to the emotional trauma experienced by the members of Congress, their staff, journalists, and Capitol security in the building at the time, five people died in the attack. One fear that this recent history has sparked or deepened for many is that democracy itself is under attack, or at the very least, that democracy is being eroded or undermined.
These global and national events can lead to a sense of helplessness: What can anyone do when confronted with a faceless virus or the many faces of people who think and act so differently from one’s own values? The answer offered here, inspired by both A Course in Miracles and the Bible, is that what we can do is cultivate personal peace and offer it to others in our minds. We do not need the virus to go away permanently and we do not need others to share our values—including peacefulness—to feel at peace ourselves, at this very moment. We do not have to wait for things outside us to change, nor do we need to act to make things change (though we may well choose to do so, of course). As the virus wreaks havoc today and as the political system shows whatever signs we see of it failing to come around, our quiet center continues to be available to us “24-7.” It is with us all the time, waking or sleeping. What is more, we can change the world by changing our minds about the world. When we cultivate personal peace and offer it to others in our minds, we are making the world a better place, because “minds are joined” (W-18.1:2).
The offering of peace to others is one of my favorite parts of the Catholic Mass. It comes towards the end, during the Communion Rite. The priest quotes from John 14:27, where Jesus said to his disciples: “Peace I leave you; my peace I give you[.]” The priest then invites everyone to offer one another a sign of peace. When in church in person, Matthias and I would turn to one another and say, “Peace be with you,” then we would turn to others in our pew and nearby pews and do the same, sometimes with a hand-shake (in times past!), sometimes with a little wave or a little bow. I find it to be a beautiful ritual, honored in the title of this post. It is also my wish for you and everyone today and every day. (As an aside: a family friend who grew up speaking Italian moved to an English-speaking country as a young woman. Speaking little English, she tried to learn the unfamiliar words of the Catholic Mass. For some time, during this part of the Communion Rite, she would turn to others and try to do as they did, saying, “Pleased to meet you.”)
In looking up John 14:27 to quote in this post, I read the words in their heartening entirety:
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. (John 14:27)
Again, how wonderfully a propos! This peace offered by Jesus in the Bible is “not as the world gives.” It is not temporary, it is not conditional, and it is completely shared, with everyone. What excellent reason to ‘not let our hearts be troubled or afraid.’
The Catholic Mass, as beautiful as it is, nonetheless communicates a clear hierarchy. Jesus, “seated at the right hand of the Father,” gives the peace, the priest transmits it to the attendees, and then they offer peace to their peers. A Course in Miracles seeks to revise this view and flatten the hierarchy to one level only. The Jesus of the Course speaks to us as brothers with him, different only in time and readiness to accept that we are not truly separate. Workbook Lesson 108 of A Course in Miracles exemplifies this and highlights a consequence of our Oneness. It teaches, “To give and to receive are one in truth.” (W-108) This is no different from giving yourself a birthday present. You both give and receive the present. Similarly, when we wish peace to others, we receive it for ourselves. There is no separation in the mind. Cultivating personal peace, then, is also cultivating national and international peace.
In the final part of Workbook Lesson 108, there is an invitation to meditate on offering everyone aspects of peace, resonant with the peace offering in the Catholic Mass (and also with Metta, or loving kindness, meditation in Buddhism):
⁶To everyone I offer quietness.
⁷To everyone I offer peace of mind.
⁸To everyone I offer gentleness. (W-108.8:6-8)
We offer peace, because we have it; we have peace, because we are Peace, in truth. Pausing as we say or read these words brings the memory of Peace into our awareness.
A Course in Miracles is published by The Foundation for Inner Peace. All the books comprising the Course, along with the supplemental pamphlets, are now found online:
https://acim.org/acim/en
All quotations of A Course in Miracles in this blog post are drawn from this version of the Course.
The version of the Bible quoted in this post is the Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition and the quote is taken from BibleGateway.com (after searching for John 14:27).