"Peace be to this house!''. (Luke.10:5)

"Peace be to this house!''.
(Luke.10:5)
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When Jesus sent His disciples before him for preaching He advised them to greet the people in the house they visit with the words, 'Peace be to this house'.

Peace is a word very dear to Jesus.

When He was born in a poor cattle residing stable, the first message that came from Heaven to the residents of our world was 'Peace be to men of good will'.

Whenever He appeared to His Apostles after His Resurrection, He greeted them with 'Peace be with you.'

If we give a little thought we can find out that Bible itself is a message of peace.

It tells us how our peace with God was lost and how it was regained.

Peace presupposes love, because it can exist only between people who love one another.

God is love, so peace proceeds from Him.

God created man out of pure love.

So peace existed between God and man at the time of creation.

But by breaking God's commandment man lost the peace that united Him with God.

Man was responsible for the loss and hence it was also his responsibility to re-establish the lost peace by amending for his sins.

But amendment is a good thing and man cannot do anything good by himself.

So out of pure love God came to his help.

But God as God cannot make amendment; God cannot suffer by nature.

So, He decided to become man, remaining at the same time God, and make the amendment needed, in His human nature.

The Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity became man.

Jesus is fully God and fully man, with two natures in one person.

Jesus took upon Himself all the sins of the world and amended for all the sins by sacrificing Himself on the Cross, in His human nature.

The the peaceful relationship between God and man, lost due to the sin of our first parents, was regained by the sacrificial death of Our Lord, Jesus, fully God and fully man.

Jesus is the peace maker between God and man

Accepting the sacrifice of Jesus God forgave our sins.

Forgiveness is a very important factor in the process of peace making.

Now we are in peaceful relationship with God.

We should maintain this relationship by abstaining from sin and by our virtuous life of service to God and man.

From God proceeds love.

From love proceeds forgiveness.

From forgiveness proceeds peace.

From peace proceeds joy.

So when we greet a family,  "Peace be with you", we mean, "May God, love, forgiveness, peace and joy be with you."

God loves Himself and us.

Because of His love, He forgives us.

We should love ourselves, God and our neighbours.

As we love our neighbours, we should forgive them, as God forgives us.

So without love and forgiveness no peace is possible.

Without peace no joy is possible.

If there is no peace in this world, it only means we have no real love.

If we want to bring about peace  in our family and the world, we should first have peace of mind.

When we go for confession, the priest says,  "Your sins are forgiven, go in peace."

What does this mean?

If we are in a sinful state we cannot enjoy peace of mind.

Freedom from sin will bring about our peace of mind.

Contrition and confession will maintain our peace of mind.

Let us be peaceful ourselves and then give it to others.

Lourdu Selvam.