The peace that comes from the Holy Spirit

Peace is the theme of the Second Sunday of Advent. The first reading describes Christ the Messiah, who came from the line of Jesse, the father of King David. It also describes how to obtain peace — a peace that sustains us even in the midst of troubles: “The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him.” Can you feel the Holy Spirit “resting” on you?

We experience true peace when we’re in a restful relationship with God, i.e., when we’re not struggling against him and his ways and his plans for us. Peace does not depend on bringing to an end the struggles we have with people or the problems we have with financial shortages or addictions or health, etc. We can work hard to accomplish peace in any trial, win the war, and still not be at peace.

Peace comes to us in the wisdom and understanding that we get from the Holy Spirit. Peace comes from following the Spirit’s counsel and relying upon God’s strength. Peace comes from gaining knowledge of the truth that God wants us to know, in total submission to his authority, obediently acting upon the truth.

In the Gospel reading, John the Baptist reminds us to “prepare the way of the Lord and make straight his paths.” To receive the Spirit of God and his peace, we must prepare ourselves to meet Jesus in the Eucharist and in all the other ways that he comes to us. What kind of preparation produces peace? It’s the work of honestly identifying our sins, happy that God is merciful, and straightening our crooked paths, because we realize that God’s ways are really what’s best for us.

Whatever separates us from God’s peace, we must get rid of it. To do this, we have the Sacrament of Reconciliation and the Penitential Rite at the beginning of every Mass. Christ equips us for the journey into true peace!

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