While they were still speaking about this, he stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
Luke 24:36


In any relationship, there are multiple ways in which rifts can occur. That’s why the third week of “Love Lives” is all about making peace. If those rifts are not addressed, they will get bigger and bigger until they become chasms.

One of these rifts happened around the passion of Christ. The apostles are gathered in Jerusalem, probably in the same room where they had had the last supper, and they are trying to make sense of what is happening. They feel shame because they had abandoned their leader in time of need. Peter, James and John couldn’t even stay awake long enough to pray with him. Peter had denied Jesus three times after promising he would die for him. And all except John had run away when Jesus was arrested.
 
There was a rift in their relationship and Jesus shows us what love does, what love in action looks like: He offers peace. Jesus went to the apostles the very night he rose from the dead to make peace with them. He didn’t wait.

Rifts in relationships can quickly turn into chasms. Pray today for the grace to always think about making peace first.