"Peace be with you" when you are living in fear." Peace be with you" behind the locked doors of your insecurities. "Peace be with you" in your confrontation with foes. "Peace be with you" in your pain and wounds. "Peace be with you" in your doubts and misgivings. "Peace be with you" in your greatest challenges. "Peace be with you" in your darkest moments. "Peace be with you" in your resistance. "Peace be with you" in your humiliation. "Peace be with you" in your bewilderment.

           "Peace be with you." These are the gospel words if ever there were any. The cadence of that greeting from Jesus strikes a note of paradoxical calm in trembling hearts and anxious minds.

           Peace resides with us when we come to believe, however our believing comes about--in seeing or not seeing, in touching or not touching, in hearing or not hearing. Peace resides with us when the risen Jesus Christ, who defied the powers of death and tomb, defies the powers of our own defiance and demands for proof. Peace is the plan and promise of God for you. Peace was the Christmas song of angels over Bethlehem when Jesus was born, it was the Easter resurrection greeting of Jesus among terrified followers, and it is our eternal word of reassurance today. "Peace be with you"--peace from Jesus Christ when we find peace nowhere else.

           Peace is the blessing we receive when we dare to risk believing that Jesus has indeed risen from death so that we too might rise from our death. Peace is the blessing we receive when we dare to risk believing that in the gifts of bread and wine the horrors of crucifixion and the glory of resurrection work to transform our moments of fear into eternities of joy.

           "Peace be with you" wherever you need it now in your life.

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