The Peace That Perseveres Through Stones

Voice over by Angeline Chue Chue

Acts 14:19-28, Psalm: 144, Jn 14:27-31a

My dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

The Easter season is a time of joy, but it is not a promise of ease. Today’s readings remind us that following the Risen Lord leads not to a path free of suffering, but to a peace that endures through suffering—a peace the world cannot give and the world cannot take away.

In the Acts of the Apostles, Paul and Barnabas have just healed a crippled man in Lystra. The crowds tried to worship them as gods. But now the tide turns. Jews from Antioch and Iconium arrive and win over the crowds. They stone Paul, drag him outside the city, and leave him for dead. The scene is brutal. Yet, as the disciples gather around him, he gets up and goes back into the city. The next day, he and Barnabas leave for Derbe. After proclaiming the Gospel there, they return to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch—the very places where Paul had been persecuted and stoned. They do not avoid the danger. They revisit the wounds. And what do they do? “They strengthened the spirits of the disciples and exhorted them to persevere in the faith, saying, ‘It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.’”

This is the pattern of the Christian life. Hardships are not a sign of God’s absence; they are the path to the Kingdom. Paul does not promise comfort; he promises perseverance. He does not remove the stones; he strengthens the disciples to stand firm among them.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus speaks to His disciples on the night before He dies. Their hearts are troubled. He says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you.” The world’s peace is the absence of conflict, the safety of avoiding trouble. Christ’s peace is the presence of His love in the midst of conflict. It is the peace that allowed Paul to return to the city where he was stoned. It is the peace that enabled Jesus to face His passion without fear. “The ruler of the world is coming,” Jesus says, “but he has no power over me.” The prince of this world—Satan, the power of sin and death—cannot touch the Son. And because we are in the Son, his power over us is broken as well.

Pope Francis reflects on this Gospel: “The peace of Jesus is not a peace that sleeps. It is an active peace, a peace that fights, a peace that defends. It is the peace of the Risen Lord who passes through the closed doors of our fears and says, ‘Peace be with you.’” St. Augustine, contemplating Paul’s stoning, wrote, “He who was stoned returns to the same city; he who was persecuted preaches again. The body is bruised, but the faith is not shaken.”

For us today, the message is clear. We will face hardships. We may be “stoned” by rejection, by illness, by betrayal, by the failures of our own plans. But we are called to persevere. We are called to return to the places of our wounds and strengthen others. And we are called to receive a peace that the world cannot give—a peace that comes only from the Risen Lord, who has overcome the world.

This Easter season, let us not pray for an easy path. Let us pray for the courage to walk the path of hardship with the peace of Christ in our hearts. And let us be, like Paul, instruments of strengthening for others, so that together we may enter the Kingdom of God. Amen.

May God bless you all!