Nathen Deaton
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives.” (John 14:27, NRSVCE)
The Peace of Christ be with you all! Jesus’ words in John 14:27 and John 15:12–18 remind us of His radical call to love and peace. He commands us to love one another as He loves us, even to the point of laying down our lives for our friends. This peace, unlike the world’s fleeting version, is a transformative gift rooted in Christ’s self-sacrificing love. Initially, I intended to discuss Christian Anarchism, drawing from a recent course. However, the Holy Spirit guided me to focus on a seemingly small but profoundly radical act: the Sign of Peace during Mass.
The Sign of Peace, often reduced to a handshake or nod, is far more than a polite gesture. The Church teaches it is a sacramental sign, an icon through which Christ Himself works. In that moment, we embody His self-sacrificing love, proclaiming reconciliation with our neighbor because Christ has reconciled us. We declare, with our words and actions, a commitment to their good, even at personal cost, offering the peace only He provides.
Originally, I considered exploring how systems like capitalism and Marxism suppress our creative and free selves, reducing people to machines, consumers, or beasts of burden. Thinkers like David Graeber and Friedrich Nietzsche attribute humanity’s failures to our desires for power and success. Nietzsche, in particular, observes that humans often prioritize self-advancement over collective good, a competition evident even at the cellular level, where weaker cells perish. If God were not real, Nietzsche’s nihilistic realism might suffice to explain our nature. But God is real, and through union with Him, we find answers Nietzsche could not.
Christian thinkers like Jacques Ellul have imagined a Christian anarchist society, though I found his theology limited by Protestant perspectives and reluctance to engage opposing views. These thinkers, however, highlight that our current ways of living undermine peace, love, and human dignity. This realization led me to focus on the Sign of Peace, a radical act that counters these systems. When we exchange this sign, we reject selfish impulses, as Richard Dawkins might call our “selfish genes,” and instead embody Christ’s love.
Dr. Deane’s explanation of our ontological change through union with God illustrates this beautifully. Imagine humanity as grey. The Holy Spirit is yellow, Jesus is orange, and the Father is red. Through prayer and acts of love, like the corporal works of mercy, we take on the Spirit’s yellow, becoming united with the Son and thus orange. As the Father and Son are one, we are drawn into the Father’s red, divine life. This unity extends to the entire world, as every person, made in God’s image, bears at least a faint trace of the Spirit’s yellow, unless they fully reject God. Even then, like the father of the prodigal son, God waits patiently.
This interconnectedness transforms how we see others. Jesus healed not only Jews but anyone with faith, like the Centurion’s servant, showing the universality of God’s love. When we perform acts of mercy—feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the imprisoned—we unite with the Triune God, who is bound to the downtrodden. The Sign of Peace, echoing the early Church’s kiss of peace, embodies this unity. It is a pledge to share in others’ joys and sorrows, to provide for their needs, and to build a community that rejects the world’s greed and oppression.
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” (John 15:12, NRSVCE)
The Sign of Peace is a bold proclamation of Christ’s love animating our being. It is not a mere formality but a commitment to stand with others, rejoice with them, and walk with them in suffering. In a world marked by usury and oppression, this act declares our rejection of personal gain in favor of honoring the Father in the faces of our brothers and sisters, including the panhandler seeking help. Jesus reminds us that those who do the Father’s will are His family, and our actions during the Sign of Peace reflect this truth.
The peace we share at the altar must extend beyond the church. It belongs in our homes, workplaces, and streets, especially in our interactions with those hardest to love. This is how the Kingdom of God grows: through one radical act of peace at a time. As we extend our hand in the Sign of Peace, let us look into the eyes of others, see Christ’s face, and declare our commitment to build a world of peace together. By bearing fruit that lasts, we allow Christ’s peace to flow through us to a world in desperate need.
Citations
1. Holy Bible, New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition. (1993). John 14:27, 15:12–18. Catholic Bible Press.
2. Graeber, David. (2011). Debt: The First 5,000 Years. Melville House.
3. Nietzsche, Friedrich. (1883–1885). Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Translated by Walter Kaufmann. Penguin Books, 1978.
4. Ellul, Jacques. (1988). Anarchy and Christianity. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing.
5. Dawkins, Richard. (1976). The Selfish Gene. Oxford University Press.