When Jesus appeared to his disciples after the resurrection, they were a frightened bunch huddled together behind closed doors. His first words to them were:

“Peace be with you.”

Everyone desires peace. But what is it? Is it the cessation of hostilities or is it calmness of soul? Wherever you go, there will always be strife and hostilities. Nations will be at war against nations. Families will be divided over inheritance. Family members will be pitted against each other, daughter-in-law against Mother-in-law, and son-in-law against Father-in-law. Yet, people of good will will always continue to strive for peace, to make of their world a better place, to create unity and harmony among nations and among one another.

We must strive for peace in the midst of a fractured world.

And, so I ask: what is this elusive gift, called peace? It is not the cessation of hostilities for there will always be wars and rumors of war. Peace is, rather, a spiritual quality. It is the possession of harmony or calmness of soul in spite of the turmoil around you. Those who live in the past are plagued with regrets, and those obsessed with the future are troubled with anxieties. But those who are at peace are content to live in the present, to enjoy the grace of the present moment for that is all you actually possess in the here and now. The past, although we can learn from it, is gone, and the future, though we must prepare for it, might never come. But the present we always have with us. We need less past and less future in our lives but more present wherein peace can blossom. Thus, we need to cultivate peace in our present situation, wherever we are, and in spite of everything that life throws at us.

It must be said that it’s difficult for workers in the workplace to achieve peace of mind when they feel they are being used rather than appreciated. Would it not be better, for example, for big business tycoons, who want to invest billions, if not trillions of dollars populating extraterrestrial planets, to actually invest their wealth in their workers by giving them better wages on planet Earth? Surely that would contribute to creating genuine peace of mind.

In Gulliver’s Travels, Jonathan Swift writes about a rare race of people engaged in activities in space, totally cut off and detached from those living on Earth. Is it possible that we are arriving at this sad state of affairs in our day where people are cut off from one another, where people are being deprived of their peace of mind in the present world of human affairs?

I would like to share with you a story about Peace.

There once was a ruler who offered a prize to the artist who would paint the best picture of Peace. Many artists submitted their entries for the contest. The ruler looked at all the pictures. But there were only two that really stood out, and he had to choose between them.

One picture was of a calm lake. The lake was a perfect mirror of peaceful towering mountains all around it, reflected beautifully in the body of the lake. Overhead a blue sky with fluffy white clouds wrapped itself around the lake like a protective canopy. All who saw this picture thought that it was a perfect picture of peace. But was it?

The other picture had mountains, too. But these were rugged and bare. Above was a stormy sky, from which rain came tumbling down and lightning flashed. Down the side of the mountain tumbled a foaming waterfall. This did not look peaceful at all to those who saw it. But when one looked closely, one was struck by the sight of a tiny bush growing in a crack in the rock and, in the bush, a mother bird had built her nest there. In the midst of the threatening torrent of water, and stormy, lightning sky, sat the mother bird on her nest—in Perfect Peace.

Which picture do you think won the prize? The second picture, of course. This picture was chosen because it was true to life. Peace does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, hard work, or strife. Peace means to be in the midst of the strife, to be among all those demanding things of life, and still be calm in your heart. Peace is not just the calm after the storm. Peace is the calm before the storm, within the storm, and after the storm. It is a permanent quality of the soul.

The Lord says, “Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called children of God” ( Matthew 5 : 9 ) but he also says “do not think that I came to bring peace on the Earth; I did not come to bring peace, but division” ( Matthew 19 : 34 ).

To achieve true peace, we have to endure trial and division. We have to face rejection even within our families for the sake of peace. True peace comes to those who can remain calm when everything else around them is falling asunder. True peace comes to those who are secure in their allegiance to the Prince of Peace.

As we strive to let peace reign in our hearts, I wish all my readers this peace that surpasses all understanding.

Peace be with you.

—Fr. Hugh Duffy