It is consoling to hear the Lord Jesus bequeathing peace to his followers. He leaves with them his own peace, the peace the world cannot give. That he says is his gift to those who believe in him, who take his word to heart and act on them. The Holy Spirit is the agent of this peace. He promises to send this Holy Spirit, to act as our Advocate, to remind us of all he has taught us, to be our guarantee of peace. Today's Gospel reminds me that the most prominent words of Jesus Christ after the resurrection were: "Peace be with you," "Be not afraid." The Gospels record that as Jesus appeared to his frightened and disillusioned disciples at various times and in different locations, his first words were: "peace be with you." Three times in the passage of John 20:19-29, he repeated those gracious words of peace. And I read this passage and reflected upon these consoling words of Christ, I prayed that the men and women of our country will take the Word of Jesus to heart so that we may indeed be beneficiaries of his promise of authentic peace.

As I reflect upon Christ's promise of peace in today's gospel, I think of all the parts of the world that are entangled in war and violent skirmishes. As I reflect on Christ's assurance of true peace, I pray that the warring factions in the various parts of the world where there is tension may be delivered of the primitive instincts that lead to war, including the lust for power and the inordinate ambition to control, dominate or enslave others. On this occasion too I think of people everywhere across the globe that are not at war but are held down by reckless dictators and callous mercenaries. I think of the Nigerian people and their shallow dreams for freedom, political stability and economic prosperity. I think of the many people in our land and elsewhere whose lives in the last decade can be described as a calligraphy of agony and a mosaic of misery. I think of the present scenario on the political and economic fronts, where there is hardly any light beyond the tunnel. From a purely human point of view the situation is capable of overwhelming us sadness and discouragement. Yet the words of Jesus to his disciples today and the assurances of peace he gave them at their greatest moments of need, when all seemed to have ended in the defeat and total humilation, are our greatest source of hope.

When Jesus met Peter who had denied him three times and the other disciples who abandoned him and ran away during his moments of trial, he still declared to them: "Peace be with you." He was later to rebuke them for their incredulity, their utter lack of faith. He scolded Thomas for insisting on seeing and touching him before believing. Yet it is significant for us that whenever the Master appeared in the midst of his disciples, he was always bearing an olive branch, announcing the realisation in Himself of God's promise of Peace. The real peace which every human heart longs for is now available in the risen Lord Jesus for all who repent of their sins. The true peace which human families hunger and thirst for is now available for all who come in faith to the risen Lord Jesus. The lasting peace which is the preoccupation of conscientious leaders in every place and in every age, is indeed available to all who accept the message and implications of the resurrection.

Though "shalom" was the usual greeting of the Jews, the greeting took on a new meaning after the resurrection. Coming from the mouth of Christ, the same one who was crucified on the cross and who rose as Scripture had foretold and as he himself had predicted, Jesus' "shalom" addressed to his disciples assumed a very special significance. His greeting of peace means: "Do not be afraid; It is I; I am alive; I have been vindicated; Truth has prevailed; I have conquered death; I am in control; I have shamed the devil; I have overcome the world. Though you may have to go through trials and tribulations, hold on firmly to your faith in me. Yes, even in the midst of the storms and whirlwinds of life, do not be afraid, for as you can see in my own case, the agents of darkness shall not have the last laugh. Instead when tribulations and persecutions begin to happen, stand erect, hold your heads high, for your liberation is near at hand."

The gift of peace which Jesus offers is not what anyone in the world can give. It is a peculiar peace, a unique peace that only the Prince of Peace can give. The peace of Jesus is the peace of the Kingdom of God, the comprehensive peace that includes forgiveness of sin, atonement with God, reconciliation with neighbour, holiness and wholeness of life, moral integrity, physical and mental well-being and of course material prosperity. For those who are estranged from God due to sin, mere physical or material abundance cannot guarantee true, lasting peace, the type which the human heart daily yearns for. True, lasting peace is not possible where spiritual and moral integrity are lacking, since as St. Augustine says, the Lord has created us for himself and our hearts shall remain restless until they rest in him.

With the resurrection of Christ the Prince of Peace, the message of the Gospel is that peace is now available to all of us who like the disciples by the sea of Tiberias have laboured and toiled all night but have caught nothing. The good news is that true peace is now available in Christ Jesus for all those whose hearts have been restless - those who have been humiliated by poverty, those who have suffered from sicknesses and diseases, those who have suffered loneliness, rejection or abandonment, those who have lost out in callous game of subterfuge that we call politics in our land, those who have been consigned to the margins of a society where the winner takes all, those who suffer multiple injustices at the hands of callous dictators and ruthless task masters, those going through the distress of failed businesses or careers, those putting up with the agony of an abusive husband or a nagging wife, those who watch in shock and pain the infidelity of their beloved spouse, those carrying the burden of problem children, and those subjected to the anxiety and pain of childlessness. The good news is that peace is now possible for all these people in Christ Jesus who died the shameful death on the cross, but who rose from the dead and is now constituted the Lord of Life and the Prince of Peace.

Jesus' word of peace which was uttered so many times after the resurrection is not only a gift or a bequeathal but also a mission. It is at one and the same an endowment and an invitation, a promise and a command. Jesus' word of peace is an invitation to all who have toiled all night - all who have suffered at the hands of the evil one, to throw in their nets for a catch since Jesus Christ is risen and has conquered the evil one. Jesus' word of peace is an invitation to all who hunger and thirst to come and have their fill in the heavenly banquet made possible by the sacrifice of his body and blood. Jesus' word of peace is an invitation to all who labour and are overburdened to come and have their rest in the bosom of the risen Lord who is meek and humble of heart, whose yoke is easy and whose burden is light.

Jesus' word of peace is the instrument of freedom for the down-trodden and all those who are held captive by the Prince of this world and his multiple agents in the human society. Jesus' word of peace is a promise of strength for those who are weak, a pledge of health for those who are sick, and a sacrament of joy for those in sorrow. Jesus' word of peace is a promise of deliverance for all those who made themselves slaves of the devil by virtue of their lives of corruption and deceit, greed and avarice, fornication and adultery, hatred and wickedness, vengeance and unforgiveness. Jesus' word of peace is the healing balm for all who are wounded or hurt, who have all the while been denied wholesome human existence. Indeed Jesus' word of peace is the one gift capable of satisfying the greatest hunger of the human heart. It is the ultimate answer to the profound longing of the human family.

For us to receive the comprehensive peace of Jesus we need to fulfil only one condition. It is the condition which St. Peter gave to his hearers in Acts of the Apostles, namely, repentance from sin and belief in the Son of God. We must recognise that the peace of Jesus Christ is the peace of the suffering servant who was led to his vicarious death, dumb and docile like a sheep to the slaughter. The peace of Jesus is the peace of the Son of God who for our sake humbled himself even to accepting death, death on the cross. The peace of Jesus is one which comes "after the fire." It is available to all those who believe that the suffering of the righteous person, far from being useless, is extraordinarily fruitful. The peace of Jesus is available to those who understand the dynamics of the resurrection which involve genuine repentance and conversion and a radical change on the physical, moral, spiritual and social dimensions of human existence. Everyone has a chance in the new dispensation, the slave master as well as the slave, the dictator as well as the victim of dictatorship, the exploiter as well as the victim of exploitation, the oppressor as well as the victim of oppression. All that the Prince of Peace requires is repentance, a total change of heart, and a commitment the principles that make for peace.

Jesus' "peace be with you" is an announcement that a sudden, unexpected, miraculous twist in fortune is now possible for those who suffer any form of injury, pain, sickness, humiliation or even death. Their pool of tears of can now be transformed into an oasis of fortune. Since it happened to Jesus, it can happen to all who live in him, all who live like him. Jesus' peace is the inheritance of those who live a life of ardent faith, lively hope and radical love - the love that entails self-denial, self-abnegation and self-sacrifice. Jesus' peace is the result of a prior commitment on the part of the human person or human societies to a life of righteousness, which is demonstrated in poverty of spirit, purity of heart, care for the weak and hunger for truth and justice.

True peace is the reward for those who embrace the ways of Jesus whose life of austerity, humility, obedience and compassion is a sign of contradiction to a world of greed and avarice, pleasure and power, manipulation, domination and vengeance. Genuine peace is the endowment of those who reject the prevailing logic of political opportunism, ethnic bigotry and religious intolerance. Real  peace is available for those who reject the law of the jungle along with the accompanying consequences of violent crimes, fear and anxiety. It is available for those who reject the culture of sin and death and accept what John Paul II calls the civilization of love, which involves human solidarity, mutual consideration, mercy, forgiveness and non-violence. Shall our country men and women continue to say no to this way of peace? Shall the leaders of the world who today seem desperate for global peace continue to reject the ingredients that make for peace?