What a beautiful departing gift we receive today from the Lord - the promise of peace, a peace that the world cannot give. Although the text is taken from John's Last Supper Discourse on the eve of Jesus' Passion, it is a text that is especially appropriate to hear again now as the Easter season slowly draws to a close, and we look forward to the Feast of the Ascension when we will celebrate the memory of Christ's return to His Father.

The Jewish people in greeting one another and saying goodbye used the Hebrew word of peace - SHALOM. It was a particularly meaningful term for those acquainted with the Scriptures where the word was used by the prophets to indicate the state of harmony and communion with God which would make the age of the Messiah. This was the gift that our Messiah offered to us, at the very moment when He was heading out to meet His destiny and death. At the same time He urged His disciples neither to be troubled or afraid, no matter what was to come.

It is in the light of this gift of peace that we can begin to understand how Paul and his companions were able to face the trials we hear about in our first reading - humiliation, threats, and even stoning. Paul told the early converts that they must be prepared to face many tribulations in order to enter the Kingdom of God. But through Jesus, we possess an interior peace that enables us to face all difficulties that may come our way.