Not as the World Gives

Gospel Reflection for Tuesday, May 20th, 2025 - John 14:27-31

“Peace I leave you; my peace I give you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you.”

We hear these words at every Mass after praying the Our Father. The priest says “Lord Jesus Christ, who said to your Apostles: Peace I leave you, my peace I give you…”

It’s a beautiful, weekly reminder that the peace received from Christ is not circumstantial. He doesn’t offer this peace as a kind of transaction - calm in exchange for control, serenity in exchange for success. No, the peace He gives is something deeper, something that roots us, that gives us the stability we crave.

Jesus spoke these words on the night of His betrayal. He knew the cross was coming. He knew the fear that would threaten the hearts of His disciples. And still He tells them: “Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.” He tells them they should rejoice instead of fear because He is going to be with the Father.

And yet how easily are our hearts troubled? By Headlines, diagnoses, interruptions, disappointments, unanswered prayers.

But these words we hear each week are more than a comfort, they are a call. A call to remember that despite the cross we are carrying there is a peace that is untouched by this world, “for the ruler of the world is coming. He has no power over me.” That Christ stared down the Cross, and offered us this peace. That despite the struggle, the pain, the grief, the unimaginable, that we may face daily, we have this untouchable peace if we choose to accept it.

It is a great mystery of our faith that peace, and even joy, can reside in the hearts of those who love Jesus even while enduring the crosses of this life. It’s not a peace this world offers, but the peace of the One who took on the flesh of man, bore our suffering, and overcame death itself. It is a peace that overcomes fear.

It is the peace of Christ. And it is offered to us daily.

Jesus said to his disciples:
"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.
Not as the world gives do I give it to you.
Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.
You heard me tell you,
'I am going away and I will come back to you.'
If you loved me,
you would rejoice that I am going to the Father;
for the Father is greater than I.
And now I have told you this before it happens,
so that when it happens you may believe.
I will no longer speak much with you,
for the ruler of the world is coming.
He has no power over me,
but the world must know that I love the Father
and that I do just as the Father has commanded me."