Peace sign

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Meditation on Divine Mercy Sunday, year C2

I spent a month in New York once. At that time, Anita and I went to Masses during the week in a nearby church. A handful of the faithful scattered in several dozen pews participated in them. When it was time to make a peace sign, everyone turned enthusiastically on their own axis and waved the rest. It was very nice. Especially after experiencing Polish standards: the rotation of the neck itself in the range of approx. 30 degrees and a barely reaching purr from under the nose. But despite everything – also the American enthusiasm did not reflect the essence of the matter.

The risen Jesus greets his disciples with the words “Peace be with you.” He comes to them, even despite the closed doors, to use this greeting to close the past and open the future. In doing so, he reaffirms the extraordinary kind of relationship that exists between him and his disciples – a relationship that is fully faithful, even when one of the parties has not been faithful. The words “Peace to you” close the past because they invalidate what was – they open the future because they are a confirmation of faithfulness and trust.

The Evangelist John shows that during the Risen One’s encounter with his disciples, Jesus shows his pierced hands and side after the words “Peace be with you”. The sign of peace is therefore not a courteous greeting, but a clear message: wounds confirm the identity of Jesus as the Son of God and do not allow us to forget the price he paid in the name of fidelity. It is these wounds – in the resurrected, deified body – that emphasize the divine incarnation so strongly. Jesus is not a spirit, a phantom, an image – he is what he was: the Savior who went through the cross to overcome death.

There is no Thomas at the first meeting with Jesus after his resurrection. The second, reports Jan, is already there. And he acts as if he came for the sake of a previously absent student. Since Thomas, after the report of his friends, declared that he would not believe his companions until he himself saw and touched Jesus’ wounds, he immediately got such an opportunity. After the greeting “Peace be with you”, Jesus invites Thomas to special closeness. After all, none of the others present had thought of touching Jesus. So it is thanks to Thomas – this is what his role in the gospels comes down to – we gain certainty about how physical and sensual our faith is. It is faith at your fingertips! When faithfulness is not enough for us, we can put our hand into Christ’s pierced side. God puts no limits on us in shortening the distance. He lets himself be touched. Lets touch your wounds! (Have you ever had an open wound? So you know how it hurts. And you know how it hurts to touch a loved one too, even when they want to nurture you when they put their hand on the wound. But you must have love to allow such a gesture …

During Holy Mass, the sign of peace has its place between the Our Father and the Eucharist. (By the way, perhaps Zbigniew Nosowski once suggested that this gesture should be at the beginning of the liturgy, as a full stop over and after universal confession). After acknowledging that God has a paternal relationship to us, and before finally confirming His love, we greet each other in the church with the greeting of the Risen Jesus. And let’s not make this gesture either as a murmur or as theatrical enthusiasm. Let us be sensual in this gesture, just as Jesus was sensual – let’s touch each other, because that’s what we have and will have bodies, so that we can also build relationships through them. Let us allow ourselves to be intimate, no matter what the situation.