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Views from the Choir Loft

Jesus Returns

Fr. David Friel · April 7, 2013

MAGINE FOR A SECOND that you’re Jesus. A week and a half ago, you were brutally put to death. You spent last Saturday in a tomb, and then, last Sunday, you rose from the dead. Today, a full week later, you decide to make an appearance to your closest friends: Peter, James, John, Thomas, Philip, Bartholomew, and all the rest of the Apostles. They’re huddled in the Upper Room, and you walk in. What would you say to them? “What’s up?” “It’s nice to see you.” “Hey, guys, you left me hanging!”

What are Jesus’ actual first words to the Apostles in that Upper Room? “Peace be with you.” He even says it twice: “Peace be with you.” That was the perfect thing to say! Why?

We can only make sense of why that was such a perfect thing to say if we understand what Jesus means by “peace.” Sometimes, because of the news we hear, I think we get the idea that peace is related to world politics and military action and the balance of power. But, in its truest sense, peace has nothing to do with any of that. Peace is not the absence of conflict. Peace is not achieved by amassing nuclear weapons. Nor is peace achieved by ridding the world of nuclear weapons. Peace is not, in fact, primarily a state of conditions between nations or armies. Peace is a state of soul in individual persons.

Where does peace come from? It comes from the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. What do I mean? Were it not for our Lord’s Passion, Death, and Resurrection, none of us would be able to sleep at night. Without His Passion, Death, and Resurrection, none of us would have any hope of eternal life. It is only by His triumph over the grave that there exists the possibility of our salvation. In His Resurrection is our peace! That’s the gift of peace, which Jesus imparts to His disciples.

Today, the Church universal observes Divine Mercy Sunday. What gives us peace in life is knowledge of God’s immense mercy. It is the mercy of God, for example, that we woke up this morning. It is the mercy of God that we are held in existence through every breath of our lives. And it is the ultimate demonstration of the mercy of God that He should sacrifice His only Son for us poor sinners.

Nowhere in life do we experience mercy more fully, more richly, more intimately than in the Sacrament of Penance. In the Gospel of John, chapter 20, Jesus breathes on the Apostles and says to them, “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” Granting the forgiveness of sins is one of the most awesome duties of the priest—one of the most humbling powers I possess. I daresay that the most beautiful words I have ever spoken are the words of absolution.

Meditate for a moment on the words the priest says as he forgives sinners in the confessional: “God, the Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of His Son has reconciled the world to Himself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins; through the ministry of the Church, may God give you pardon and peace.” When we go to confession and hear those words from the priest, it’s as if Jesus were appearing to us and saying, “Peace be with you.”

Without the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Christ, we have no hope. With them, we have no fear.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel served as Parochial Vicar at Saint Anselm Church in Northeast Philly before earning a doctorate in liturgical theology at The Catholic University of America. He presently serves as Vocation Director for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and teaches liturgy at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary.—(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

    Hymn by Cardinal Newman
    During the season of Septuagesima, we will be using this hymn by Cardinal Newman, which employs both Latin and English. (Readers probably know that Cardinal Newman was one of the world's experts when it comes to Lingua Latina.) The final verse contains a beautiful soprano descant. Father Louis Bouyer—famous theologian, close friend of Pope Paul VI, and architect of post-conciliar reforms—wrote thus vis-à-vis the elimination of Septuagesima: “I prefer to say nothing, or very little, about the new calendar, the handiwork of a trio of maniacs who suppressed (with no good reason) Septuagesima and the Octave of Pentecost and who scattered three quarters of the Saints higgledy-piddledy, all based on notions of their own devising!”
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Introit • Candlemas (2 February)
    “Candlemas” • Our choir sang on February 2nd, and here's a live recording of the beautiful INTROIT: Suscépimus Deus. We had very little time to rehearse, but I think it has some very nice moments. I promise that by the 8th Sunday after Pentecost it will be perfect! (That Introit is repeated on the 8th Sunday after Pentecost.) We still need to improve, but we're definitely on the right track!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Simplified Antiphons • “Candlemas”
    Anyone who desires simplified antiphons (“psalm tone versions”) for 2 February, the Feast of the Purification—which is also known as “Candlemas” or the Feast of the Presentation—may freely download them. The texts of the antiphons are quite beautiful. From “Lumen Ad Revelatiónem Géntium” you can hear a live excerpt (Mp3). I'm not a fan of chant in octaves, but we had such limited time to rehearse, it seemed the best choice. After all, everyone should have an opportunity to learn “Lumen Ad Revelatiónem Géntium,” which summarizes Candlemas.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“By a decree of the synod of the diocese of Exeter in 1284, no one should claim any seat in a church; but whoever first entered a church for the purpose of devotion, might choose at his pleasure a place for praying.”

— A work by Fr. Husenbeth (d. 1872)

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