Peace be with You – Reflection on John 20:19-23
Pentecost – Day
I had witnessed miles of metal shacks that whole families called homes, a harbor filled with marginalized boat people, and deep mining cuts into the earth, leaving behind a different kind of wound. An uncomfortable list kept growing, and my internal angst accumulated without realizing it. Among other subtle movements, I noticed a more peaceful internal change. At an evening meal at a L’arche home, I was seated directly across a large painting of Jesus with outstretched arms at the dinner table with the disciples. Jesus’s words, “Peace be with you,” rose to the surface. Among the favorite ways of calmness are walks deep within the silence of forests. Here, the silent breath of the Holy Spirit lets me reflect and welcome Jesus to raise my consciousness beyond where I had been. Jesus’s gift of the awareness of the Holy Spirit working from within can help carry Jesus’s peace, love, and hope in our pain and the pain of others.
The Appearance of Christ at the Cenacle by James Tissot.
Additional details are available at the Brooklyn Museum website.
Additional Eastertide Reflections
John 20:19:23 Scripture*
Jesus Appears to the Disciples
19 When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
Additional Thoughts
Thank you for meditating on this Gospel and reading this Lectio Divina on John 20:19-23 Reflection – Peace be with you.
Would you like to contribute related thoughts to these Lectio reflections on the Gospel readings? Since Lectio is not the only contemplative prayer style, others might appreciate these types of expressions in this ministry. Do you see God’s grandeur everywhere and unconditionally enjoy sharing the love of Christ that you have inside? Are you willing to be anonymous in what you would share? If so, email me.
Prayer for young families:
Lord, let the young families of our communities get to know your joy, peace, comfort, and love despite worldly distractions.
Attributions
*This site has permission to use the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) Bible John 20 passage.
The Immersive Prayer website follows the guidelines for image web use at the websites of the Brooklyn Museum and the Jewish Museum.