I keep coming back to a single line in the homily delivered by my pastor during Mass this past Sunday. In the context of talking about Jesus greeting both the ten disciples to whom he first appeared and then Thomas by saying, “Peace be with you,” he said, “If we don’t share the peace of Christ with others, it doesn’t mean anything.”
When I first heard the line, it struck me as overstatement. If we don’t share Christ’s peace (read: love), it means nothing? Surely it couldn’t be right to say it doesn’t mean anything? Less, sure. But, nothing? Doesn’t it still have to mean something.
But the more I reflected, the more I realized the truth of what he said. It struck me that the line offers a different – and quite abrupt and direct – way of conveying the inherent interrelationship of love of God and love of neighbor. The inseparability of love of God and love of others means there is not just incompleteness (not just something less than perfect) if we don’t share the love or peace we receive from God with others. Rather, we can’t really experience the love and peace of God (and therefore don’t really possess in a real way) unless we are also sharing it with others. It is, from our side, as though it weren’t there.
The line is also a different expression of what we hear in the parable of the talents. We sometimes tend to think of talents in literal terms – either as money (what was given in the Gospel to the three servants) or as a talent in the sense of gift – something tangible we are meant to use. But the parable really expresses the same notion that if we don’t share God’s love and peace with others, we can’t hold onto it. We might as well not have it at all.
A week or so ago, my pastor joked about whether anyone remembered anything from the homilies they hear each week. I’m not going to say I always remember everything I hear preached, but in this case, this one sentence helped deepen my understanding of the inextricable link between love of God and love of each other. (Thanks, Fr. Mike.)
If we don’t share the peace of Christ with others, it doesn’t mean anything.
Creo en Dios! 