Spiritual Theme of the Week

Theme (w/c 28th April 2025): Peace

Opening Prayer:

This week we are thinking of the words Jesus spoke to his disciples when he met them after his resurrection ‘Peace be with you’.

Peace has an odd quality: we associate it with calm, yet we can experience peace even in the midst of busy-ness, stress and danger.  Peace comes from an assurance of the rightness of our experience, even if it is difficult.  Jesus’ words would have reassured his disciples in the midst of their distress.

Peace from Jesus is rooted in his presence, not in how we are feeling.  His gift of peace is uttered when the disciples are in the depths of despair, not when everything is already feeling great.  They feel that they have messed up and let Jesus down.  They feel that the rest of the world has also messed up and let Jesus down.  They feel dejected, despondent and afraid.   And it’s into that mess that Jesus appears and speaks his peace.

In St Matthew’s Gospel we read that when the women went to the tomb, even before they knew that Jesus was alive, they met angels, whose message to them was ‘Do not be afraid’. 

It’s a similar kind of message. 

In the Bible the phrase ‘Do not be afraid’ appears 365 times.  When we are feeling afraid or troubled or lacking peace, it can be encouraging to remember that God reassures us, every day of the year, ‘Do not be afraid’, because God is with us.

There are many, many things we face in life which could be overwhelming for us to face on our own, but the promise from Jesus is that we are not on our own. The gift of the Holy Spirit means that we are always in the loving presence of God.

Placing our trust and our hope in God, through the person of Jesus and in the power of Holy Spirit, can transform us (like those first disciples) from timid and fearful people, into those who know that they are not alone and are supported by the one who overcame insults, attack and even death to bring us the fullness of life. 

So do not be afraid – the peace of Christ is with you!