Homilies

As summer approaches, we know the familiar feeling of when the sun’s heat presses heavily upon us. On those scorching days, nothing refreshes us more deeply and immediately than cool water. Imagine that feeling—the relief, the refreshment, the renewed vitality from just a simple drink. Jesus invites us today with this very image: “Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink.”

Yet Jesus is not speaking about physical thirst. He describes the gift of the Holy Spirit as “[r]ivers of living water,” an image that might surprise us. Often, we associate the Spirit with fire—dynamic, powerful, and transformative—especially recalling the flames of Pentecost. But here, in a world scorched by conflict, division, and heated rhetoric, perhaps we need the Spirit precisely as living water—refreshing, soothing, and restoring peace.

“Why are you standing there looking at the sky?” With these words, the angels confronted the disciples in their moment of uncertainty and hesitation. It was a question that pierced their confusion and moved them from paralysis toward purpose. Jesus had departed, leaving them behind, and their gaze was locked heavenward, lost in wonder and in apprehension. They had depended upon Jesus—his presence, his wisdom, his reassuring voice. Now they stood frozen, caught in the unknown.

When Jesus speaks of peace, he promises something very different from what we usually imagine. He declares, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you.” Christ offers us a peace unlike any other—distinct from worldly promises and entirely free of conditions or threats.

Consider how the world typically delivers peace: often through force, dominance, or transactional arrangements. We might think of ancient Rome, whose emperors boasted of establishing peace across conquered territories. Yet this peace was maintained through fear, enforced with violence, and secured only through suffering and loss. Even today, worldly peace often comes disguised as a transaction: “We will give you protection if you give us something valuable in return.” Such peace is fleeting and fragile, inherently unstable because it is built upon conditional promises and shaky foundations.