Pax et Bonum Mass; January 31, 2018

Sir 50:22-24   Ps 145   Eph 1:3-14   Jn 16:20-22

Deacon Jim McFadden; St. Francis High School

 

I first came across the greeting Pax et Bonum 50 years ago as a young man entering a Franciscan monastery in upstate New York to discern whether I had a vocation to the priesthood. Prior to entering, I spent my sophomore year at CSU-San Francisco, spending most of my time surfing the beaches at Santa Cruz. When I arrived at the monastery, I must have looked like something out of a Beach Boys song, “bushy bushy blond hair-do; Surfing U.S.A.! “ So, here’s this NorCal surfing dude dropped into this pre-Vatican II monastery, which seemed so mysterious and medieval. And, the friars kept greeting one another with Pax et Bonum. When I asked them about it, they explained that it was the traditional welcome and goodbye favored by their patron St. Francis who often began and ended his sermons and letters with this powerful statement. I thought that was really cool; so, I started to do the same and have been signing my missives with Peace and good will ever since.

The question I have for our community, named after St. Francis, is whether this is a catchy, centuries old slogan, or is it a realistic challenge for us to live a certain way: to be people of peace and goodness?

What is peace? Its far more than a truce between conflicting parties. That kind of “peace” is temporary and as no traction: it does not last if it’s generated only from human effort; either party could change its mind and reopen the conflict at any time. Then what is it? We’re given a hint in the first reading from Sirach where we hear that “May he grant you joy of the heart and may peace abide among you” (Sir 50:23). We don’t engender peace, but is something we are given, which makes our heart glad.

How so? Simply put, we receive peace when we abide in Jesus, who is not an abstraction, ideal, or an ideological agenda. No, Jesus is Immanuel, God among us, and when we are drawn into his resurrected presence, we enter into the mystery of his Being, which is grounded in Trinitarian love. When we “move, live, and have our being” in the Risen Christ we are experiencing the mystery of God, which brings us peace. How could it not?

What does this peace look like? As we abide in Jesus, we live as he does: we give ourselves away in sacrificial love. We do the work of justice. We become people of good will, which is love put into action. So, we treat all people fairly, since we all are equal in God’s eyes because each one of us is made in the image of God. Jesus invites us to address the First Person of the Trinity the same way that he does: as Father or Abba, which means that we are related to each other as a true sister and brother. Without our fraternity, without the sisterhood grounded in God, it is impossible to build true peace.

Sisters and brothers, life can really be hard, but is it is so very good. As we heard in our Gospel from John, we will go through a period of “weeping and mourning,” while the world goes through good times of pursuing false gods. But, just like a woman in labor, our anguish and pain will be transformed into joy when we give birth to Jesus within our hearts, within our S.F. community, within our parish, and within our world. When we say “Yes” to Jesus, when we fall in love with him, all his powers now work through us. We will become peacemakers. We will bring peace to all our relationships. We will forge bridges between conflicting parties.

As baptized Christians we are anointed as priest, prophet, and king and have the same mission as Jesus to proclaim enthusiastically and live the Good News by being self-giving, compassionate, forgiving, and reconciling. Sisters and brothers in faith: we have been given a lofty challenge.   As Troubies of St. Francis High School we ask our patron saint and his soulmate Clare to pray for us. We pray that we may mirror peace and goodness to everyone in all our endeavors. Abiding in the presence of Jesus and trusting the creative energy of the Holy Spirit , we can do it. Do we want to be a community of Pax et Bonum?! YES!