The mass has just begun and we have used that word "peace" a number of times.  We used it in the Greeting.  It was proclaimed many times in the Gloria, as well as in the First Reading, and we will listen for it again, and again, and again, as the mass continues.  Every time we celebrate the Eucharist, we use that word "peace" many, many times.  Is anyone here against peace?  I didn’t think so.  It's amazing that everyone’s for it, yet there is so little of it.  Indeed, peace is on the tip of our tongues.  Even in the responses, "Peace be with you," "And also with you." That’s the way people say hello in a lot of the world, certainly in the middle east, where there’s so little peace.  In Arabic, people greet, throughout the Muslim world, they say "Assalamu alaikum”, "Wa alaikum assalam”; "Peace be with you”, "And also with you, peace." The Jews, as well, say something very similar, "Shalom aleichem," or "Assalamu alaikum"; "And also with you peace." But why is there so little of it? I suspect it’s because we don’t know what we’re talking about.  We have a wrong notion of what peace is.
 
Our dictionary defines peace as "a state of tranquility, or rest, or quiet; the absence of war, conflict, and violence." Now, that’s an aspect of peace, but that’s not what peace is.  Not according to Christ.  Jesus says, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give peace to you." So, He’s talking about something else, the "Shalom" of God--the peace of Shalom, the peace of Christ. The peace of God is that peace that occurs when you are in full harmony with God, and therefore with all of creation and with every other person.  The Shalom of God is serenity, regardless of the circumstances around you, regardless of the challenges or the trials, or even the violence.  You are at peace if you are right with God, when everything is according to God’s way, not your way, not our way.
 
Rabbi Robert Kahn, of Houston, Texas, described differences between what he calls the Roman idea of peace and the Jewish concept of peace.

And finally,

We need to seek that peace that is of Christ.  And how do we do that?  Remember the bumper sticker: "If you want peace, work for … justice." They are linked throughout the Hebrew scriptures, peace and justice.  When Abram was called Abraham, he moved from his home country of Haran, to what is today the land of Israel and Lebanon. He defeated the kings there and he went to the city of Salam, the city of peace, later called Jerusalem.  He offered tithes there to the King, who was named Malchesidec.  Malchesidec is Greek, meaning "king of righteousness" or "king of justice." We see throughout Hebrew scriptures that justice and peace are linked.  You can’t have one without the other.  Jesus was to add a third condition to it and that I’ll discuss in a moment.
 
Now, peace is not synonymous with pacifism.  In our Catholic tradition, we admire pacifists.  If one is a pacifist, a true pacifist, we applaud them.  But we are not Quakers.  We are not pacifists.  In our tradition, we believe in the right of self defense.  Indeed, we believe in the obligation to help others who cannot defend themselves.  What’s interesting about God’s way is that it actually works.  Thoroughly works.  If justice is ensured with mercy, then peace can last.  When I think of the peace treaty after World War I, the Treaty of Versailles, I think we all know our history, it was a very unjust peace treaty to the German people.  In effect, the Allies punished Germany.  Within two decades, the Germans elected a terrible dictator, who was democratically chosen and World War II began.  After World War II, we were wiser, and used mercy.  Because of the MacArthur Plan and the Marshall Plan, Germany and Japan today are democracies, 60 years later.  What was the difference between the two treaties after the two great wars? It was that the second World War treaties and plans were spiced with mercy, not with vengeance.  It was God’s way.
 
Peace often requires action, and great sacrifice.  We admire the true workers for peace.  I think of a group called Doctors Without Borders, who put their lives at risk to help people who are sick.  Several years ago, several of them were killed in Yemen.  They were killed because they were Americans, and Westerners.  They were there trying to help people who were ill.  I really admire anyone who gives two years of their life, or more, to the Peace Corps.  They always put their health at risk, almost inevitably.  Sometimes, they put their lives at risk, working for peace.  And yes, that paratrooper that’s in Afghanistan today is also putting his life at risk for peace.  He’s willing to die so that a woman will not be shot for showing her face unveiled, or sending her daughter to school.  He is working for peace.
 
There is a lack of peace because there is a lack of justice; in Iraq, in Israel, in Palestine, and in our own country.  When a child is not safe in her mother’s womb, we don’t live in a just society.  Justice is not, according to God’s way, a legal system.  Of course, it involves that, and that’s a good thing.  But justice, and here’s the element that Christ adds, justice involves charity, love, action, and mercy.  If you want peace, you must have justice.  But for Christ, His justice is His mercy, and His mercy is His justice.  And it works.  It always works.
 
I think we have all heard of the movie or the book, "Dead Man Walking." It’s about a Sister, a religious Sister, Sr. Helen Prejean, who worked against capital punishment in this country.  She tells the story, in this movie, about a terrible crime spree, an eight day crime spree with a fellow named Robert Willie and his companion.  Among their crimes, they kidnapped three 18-year-olds; they assaulted, raped, and killed one girl; they tortured a young man and left him for dead (he’s still paralyzed today); and then they assaulted and left for dead another woman, named Debbie Morris.  Debbie tells a story that, for 18 years after that terrible crime, her life was completely ruined.  She had no peace at all.  She was filled with anger and hatred.  She was angry with her parents for letting her go out that night; she was angry with God for letting it happen; and, needless to say, she was filled with absolute hatred for the assailant, Robert Willie.  Finally, through a long process of prayer, and help, she was able to forgive Robert Willie, and it changed her life.  Here’s what she said:

"I know people who are incredulous at the thought of forgiving someone like Willey.  I felt the same way.  But by forgiving Robert Willie, I in no way absolve him of the responsibility for what he did.  But the refusal to forgive him meant that I held onto my own pain, my shame, my self pity.  I do know this:  justice didn’t do a thing to heal me; forgiveness did."

 
So, what are we to do to be part of this Shalom of God, this Peace?  First, we can pray for peace.  That’s what we are doing as the year begins.  Secondly, we can work for peace by working for justice; in your home, at your workplace, in our land, in the world.  Finally, and most importantly, we can apply mercy, forgiveness, whenever and wherever we can.  That means, in your home.  You know, I’ve seen people railing against war, and railing against violence, and they are the most difficult people in the world to live with.  That doesn’t make any sense.  If you don’t have peace in your heart, you are going to do nothing to bring about peace elsewhere.
 
We are beginning a new year.  Most of you live in families.  Today’s a good day to make a resolution.  That resolution is this:
 

To be an agent of God’s peace and mercy this year, to love those you live with, to forgive them, to be kind and never vengeful. 

If we all do that, then this year will be an excellent year, because, if all is right with God, then all is right.