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Each week we pray for the end of war and an abundance of the fruits of the earth. But in a fallen world, war rages on from century to century. And as far as provision goes, Jesus said that the poor will always be with us. Yet Jesus told his disciples that he leaves them his peace in the midst of the broader turmoil of the world—peace that the world does not give.

So he leaves a peace that is more specific to the Church and from one person to another. What kind of peace does he mean? St. Augustine gives us an interesting definition of a deeper sort of peace. He says, “Peace is serenity of mind, tranquility of soul, simplicity of heart, the bond of love, the company of charity.”

Peace is one of those elusive things like joy that you don’t get by searching for it alone. It is a by-product of something else.

For many of us that something else is a sense of control and predictability in life. How can you be at peace when you don’t know if you deepest needs will be met from day to day? We can’t control the economy or the military, but we seek a measure of peace by controlling other aspects of our lives.

This varies for each of us. One person may strive to control the work day. Or if I can control my weekend – if I get the recreation I need – then I’ll be alright. Or if I could control my husband. Or, we might choose something that is easy to control to gain some sense of satisfaction. I can control my car—if I can polish the chrome, have my favorite CDs there, I can escape and have peace there.

And then, of course, there are larger matters like career or provision for retirement that we want to control for a sense of peace.

There are many books to help you do just this, offering advice to help you manage your day, your career, or even your husband.

But how much control can you gain in the end? A man seeking financial security came to Jesus complaining because he did not get his fair share of inheritance.

So Jesus told him a parable, a rich man whose land produced plentifully, and so he sought to build bigger barns to store all his grain and goods. He finally had control over his provision, so he said to himself, “‘I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’” But then Jesus continued, “But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’”

Peace in the world is good, but can we ever depend on it? The example that Jesus gives is dramatic, but in smaller ways, we often have to strain ourselves so much to control even the smallest aspects of our lives that we suffer in other ways—by sacrificing relationships or balance of other areas of life. This is the peace that the world gives, and it is scarce.

But Jesus says that he has left peace with us, and not as the world gives. This is in the past tense. Do we know how to receive it?

St. Paul tells us that Jesus gives us a peace that passes understanding. It sounds beautiful, doesn’t it. Peace that passes understanding. Paul promises this in his Epistle to the Philippians. It is paraphrased each week in the blessing after Mass, and it is echoed in the collect for today.

But the question each must ask ourselves is, do we really want to receive this in practice? Because when it comes down to it, we are not very comfortable with anything that goes beyond our understanding, are we?

We want to control what will come next. This gives peace within the realm of understanding. But elsewhere Jesus says, “Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the days’ own trouble be sufficient for the day” (Mt 6:34). We want to accept these words, but most of us still have a way of letting tomorrow preoccupy the mind.

This brings us back to the same problem. We distrust what we don’t understand because what we don’t understand is what we don’t control. So we have a paradox. If you feel out of control, then the solution Jesus offers is to give up control.

Of course, the point here is to understand that God is in control so we trust in him. That sounds simple in Sunday School, but day to day, it hard to trust that our needs and desires will be met unless we can see exactly how we are going to get them. So in light of this, how can we move ourselves to receive this peace that passes understanding?

Many passages in Scripture give us different and wonderful angles with which to answer this question. But today’s gospel gives us a good start.

When Jesus says, “Peace,” he is saying “Goodbye” because he is about to depart this world. This is how people departed in their culture – by saying “Shalom” – peace. The Hebrew meaning for this word is comprehensive. It goes far beyond peace from circumstances and freedom from conflict. Shalom includes peace with God as the basis of peace for the soul. In this sense, peace with God is not just one aspect of peace, but the source of it.

But so much of what affects our sense of well being is not especially spiritual in nature. We have basic needs for order, provision, and achievement. So when we seek peace in our lives day to day, it is easy to leave God out of the equation. We drive forward for order and security, focusing on our horizontal relationships without giving much consideration to the vertical.

But the Shalom that Jesus gives knows no such division between the horizontal and the vertical, between the spiritual and the profane. Elsewhere Jesus says, “Seek ye first the Kingdom and God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.” All things – this means all your needs.

Let us remind ourselves what it means to have the Kingdom of God. Yes, God’s Kingdom is in control. But also, his is a gracious Kingdom. The story of the gospels is about how Jesus brought his Kingdom to the world by healing and forgiving sins. His power restores all to proper order.

So if we want peace, we need to put his kingdom before all our competing kingdoms. The solar system has no order unless there is one common orbit around the sun. And so, our lives have peace and order when we put God’s Kingdom first.

This does not mean that our individual needs desires and needs do not matter—it is just a matter of priority. Just as planets in a solar system spin on their own axis and have their own atmosphere, we are individuals in the eyes of a God who says that he numbers the hairs of our heads, and cares about our most intimate needs. What St. Paul writes to the Romans is true: “All things work out for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose.”

In the short term, however, things don’t work out so well when we don’t love God and ignore his purpose. In other words, when we don’t put God’s kingdom is when we lack peace. This may not be willful rejection of his order, but simply losing a sense of that orbit of creation when we do not put his kingdom first.

We can be aggressive about putting God’s kingdom first when we trust in the resurrection principle in our own lives. When Jesus the words of our gospel to the disciples, he was about to go to the cross—something which they would not understand. But when he rose again, he would prove to them the extent to which he is in control, and following him works out to his glory and their good in the end. When we carry the cross we feel out of control, but the resurrection principle puts things in kingdom perspective so we can do what is right.

I learned this the hard way recently when I was auditing a class, and was under pressure to prepare to discuss our reading. I put the needs of my family aside to get my reading done and stayed up half the night. What is the point of taking the class if I don’t read the book. And so exhausted after three hours sleep, I attended the class, but the professor only talked about the chapters that I had read the week before.

If I had put God’s kingdom first, I would have lived by different priorities. I would have taken more time with my children, gotten the rest that I needed for a productive week. It would have felt like as sacrifice—carrying a cross by giving up what I enjoyed. But I would trusted God for the rest. And God would have worked it out in the end.

Yet Jesus never makes us guess what it means to put his Kingdom first. In our gospel today he says, “The Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things.” Meaning, Jesus will provide all the direction we need to know God’s kingdom, he will provide all we need for Shalom – for peace.

When we have to carry the cross in our own lives, we may not understand how things will work out, and how our needs will be met. We feel out of control. But God’s people can persist in a peace that passes understanding as the one who understands all works things all things out for our good and his glory.

In the + Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, Amen.