"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you.” Jesus’ peace is not peace like we think of peace. It is his suffering for us, living for us, dying for us. 

It is everything he did for us, all that He taught and the example that He was. Interestingly we have the sign of peace right before we receive the Eucharist. What we do here at the altar is bringing present the saving action of Jesus and if we look at a crucifix, this saving act, is not and does not look peaceful, it is not peaceful, yet it brings peace. 

We are all called to share in Jesus’ sufferings. The prayer known as the Peace Prayer is truly the definition of His peace, because living this prayer is sacrificial, yet it brings peace. 
 

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;

where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

and where there is sadness, joy. 

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love;

for it is in giving that we receive,

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. 

Amen.

 

As we dissect it we see the following. 

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love - love in place of hatred is hard, suffering, takes patience and endurance. but when do it, it transforms.

 

where there is injury, pardon -  to forgive during hurts is extremely hard but love flows from it.

  

where there is doubt, faith -  to patiently show people faith during hard times in life, or when they are doubting, seems impossible but fruits of faith come from it.

 

where there is despair, hope - to go out of our way for people in despair gives hope.

 

where there is darkness, light - to brighten up people's lives during addiction, struggles, sin, or sadness brings life to the soul.

and where there is sadness, joy. - And to turn sadness into joy. Is in imitation of Jesus. 

 

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console - to worry about consoling others more than being consoled when you hurt. 

 

to be understood, as to understand - to understand others and not worry when misunderstood. 

 

to be loved, as to love - to love others more than wanting to be loved. 

for it is in giving that we receive - to be more concerned about giving than receiving. 

 

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned -  refers to injury and pardon from the beginning of the prayer. 

 

and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. -  in order to live these statements, let alone maybe just one of them is a dying to self for another.  

 

Amen.

When we live this prayer, we have true PEACE