Jesus, in today’s gospel passage, encourages his disciples to be at peace with one another. Do we hear that injunction with our name on it? As we look at our lives, are we at peace with one another? Are we at peace with the various members of our families, our friends, our coworkers, the folks at church, those in the organizations where we volunteer, with all those with whom we come in contact? I suspect not all of us, not all of the time—something comes along to ruffle our feathers, and we are not at peace.

First off, if we’re not at peace with ourselves, it is hard to be at peace with anyone. It behooves us to look at ourselves with a clear eye to see where we may be out of sorts. Maybe it’s something as simple as a sleepless night or a digestive upset that we can easily remedy. Maybe it’s something deeper within that we need to address before we look at our other relationships. Maybe it’s our relationship with God that is out of kilter. Perhaps we need to focus on how we may have separated ourselves from the divine Presence.

It is easy, of course, to be at peace with others when they agree with us, do things the way we want, meet our expectations. But in reality, how often does that happen? It is all those other times when things are not going our way that we are called to be at peace with one another, to look at things from the other’s perspective, to go the extra mile, to forgive the other and move on in peace. It helps when we realize that we are all flawed human beings, that God is not finished with any of us yet, and that, even so, we are called to love one another day by day with the self-giving love of God modeled for us in Christ Jesus.