Welcome, friends, to the Second Sunday of Advent, 2025. The theme of the second Sunday is “Peace” and this year we find this day falling between two great celebrations: the Feast of St. Nicholas (December 6) and the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception (December 8). Of course, each of these has loads to talk about, but since we can’t do them justice here please check out the links below for more information. Now, on to today’s topic!
When we as Christians talk about peace, we aren’t simply talking about the absence of conflict. That’s good, but it’s incomplete. The Peace of Jesus, the peace we mean, is about completeness rooted in God’s Grace which is His Presence in us. This kind of peace is all about relationships. The same way that Original Sin broke the relationships between man and God, man and other humanity (just Eve at that time), man and the world, and man with himself, this true Peace of Christ repairs each of these relationships. This is the meaning of the Jewish idea of Shalom, too, and it is the Peace that we are all seeking: the Peace that Jesus gives. His completeness that is His Peace is the wholeness of Christ that we receive in the Eucharist; it is His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity.
Many, many years ago I was in a Bible study and we were discussing a story we all know well from the Gospel of John, chapter 5, where a pool of water was said to be “stirred” or “troubled” or “disturbed” (depending on your translation) by an angel and the first one into the moving water would be healed. So an angel of God would disturb the water and then it became healing to those that entered into it. Someone else at the study that day mentioned that he would always say, “May the peace of Christ disturb you,” during the Sign of Peace at Mass. As we discussed this, I realized the beauty of this simple but profound statement. Like the lame man, we are seeking to be healed. Like the water, our souls need to be stirred up (ie: disturbed). When we allow ourselves to be disturbed by Him and when we enter into that stirring, we can be healed; we can share in His peace. I find that the places in my heart that I want to hide from Christ are the places that most need to be stirred up. While it does feel agitating – or disturbing – to let Him into those dark corners, it is there that I know He wants to heal me.
I adopted my friend’s Sign of Peace greeting with my children way back then and I still use it with them to this day because I do hope that the Peace of Christ, the true fullness of God’s Presence in their lives, will be theirs. I pray that He will stir them up, disturb their inner waters, and heal them in the deepest places in their hearts that I as their parent fell short, that society and culture have broken, and that the pains of their lives have bruised.
On this Second Sunday of Advent, I pray the same for all of us. May the Peace of Christ stir our hearts, heal our relationships – with God, each other, the physical world, and ourselves – and bring us the wholeness and harmony that we were made for! Amen!
May the Peace of Christ disturb you.
For more information on the Feast of St. Nicholas, check out: https://www.stnicholascenter.org/who-is-st-nicholas or https://www.dynamiccatholic.com/advent/about-st-nicholas.html
For more information on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, go here:
Fr. Mike video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V92xoH8CzyI&t=11s or
https://www.catholic.com/tract/immaculate-conception-and-assumption