“Peace be with you” says the risen Lord to his disciples in today’s gospel. There’s not much peace in the world around us. Many of us will be feeling anxious about the situation in Northern Ireland. We’d hoped and even believed that the troubles which started in the 1960’s and went on for decades were a thing of the past. I must admit I had thought the solution to the problems Brexit had thrown up might have been a united Ireland. It’s sad to see that people have preferred to hold onto old hatreds. Let’s pray that there is not a drift back into the murdering thuggery of the past.
It’s not easy to put the past behind us, but the resurrection should draw us into a new life. It’s rarely a sudden and complete transformation; our pasts are usually troubled and even traumatised and there are things we need to come to terms with. We can bring these things to the risen Jesus remembering that the resurrection followed the crucifixion. Mary Magdalene thought that the risen Jesus was a gardener. It’s extraordinary to think that after the trauma of the crucifixion Jesus was able to gather about himself the self possession of a young man going about his daily work. Let’s ask him to impart his peace to us as we go about our daily lives.