The key to this passage, as well as to the whole farewell message of Jn 13-17, is found in v 24. The word that Jesus shares is not his own (that is, according to human reckoning), but God the Father’s. The peace that Jesus is concerned to share with his followers is based on a right ordering of one’s life before God — the result of keeping Christ’s fundamental command to love one another as he did. The Holy Spirit shows how this can be done and therefore reveals the power to love.

The farewell which signals the end of one sort of presence of Jesus on earth also spells the beginning of a new presence — he is in his Church formed by the Spirit. The risen body of Jesus is not just his previous physical body brought back to life as before, but is a totally new, spiritually charged body. Whatever the physical elements of the body the disciples saw after the resurrection, this much is clear: the early Christians saw themselves as one with this very body. The risen Jesus continued to work on earth through their bodies united in the one body, the Church.

The account of the council of Jerusalem in Acts 15 brings us down to earth about the way the Church actually strives to love in the presence of Christ. The power of the Spirit does not take away the need for human organization or human powers of deliberation, decision, and action. The human situation becomes the field within which the Spirit worked, and thus human responsibility is raised to a new level, that of cooperation with the divine will.

This psalm looks to the reign of God throughout the world through the presence of Christ in his Church. Response: "O God, let all the nations praise you."

City of God versus city of man is an age-old theme in religious writings. Human civilization, as we experience it, is founded upon pride and greed, and cannot be considered an environment worthy of human dignity, nor is it able to survive the limitations of time. The final realization of the city of God is recognition of God’s sufficiency (v 23) over and above all the strivings of human wisdom and effort.

1. Reflect on the meaning and value of Christ’s peace in the world today.

2. "The glory of God is man and woman fully alive." Comment.