In this Easter season, we hear a powerful and somewhat surprising detail in the Gospel from John 20:19–23. When the Risen Jesus appears to His disciples in the upper room for the first time, He does not come without the marks of His suffering. Instead, He shows them His hands, His side, and His wounds.
This moment is deeply important. Jesus has conquered sin and death. He is glorified. And yet, the wounds remain. Why? Because His wounds are no longer signs of defeat, they have become signs of love. They are the visible proof of what He was willing to endure for us. More than that, they reveal something essential about the peace that Jesus offers.
When Jesus says, “Peace be with you,” He does not ignore suffering. He does not pretend that the Cross never happened. Instead, He reveals His wounds, showing us that true peace is not the absence of pain, but the presence of Christ within it.
This is a message we all need. Each of us carries wounds in our lives. Some are physical, but many are spiritual or emotional:
the loss of someone we love
the weight of past mistakes
strained relationships
disappointments and struggles we carry quietly
Often, our instinct is to hide these wounds, to move past them, ignore them, or keep them buried. But the Gospel invites us to do something very different. It invites us to bring our wounds to the Risen Lord, Jesus himself.
The Risen Lord does not stand at a distance from our pain. He enters into it. He meets us there. And when He does, something begins to change. The wound may still be present, but it is no longer empty. It becomes a place of grace, healing, and even peace.
The disciples experienced this transformation. They moved from fear in the upper room to joy, not because their past had been erased, but because Christ was alive and present with them in the midst of it all.
The same is true for us. Whatever we carry today, however heavy or hidden it may be, Christ comes to us and speaks the same words: “Peace be with you.”
As we continue through this Easter season, I invite you to reflect on where you may need to experience that peace more deeply. Do not be afraid to bring your wounds to the Risen Lord, in prayer, in the Eucharist, and especially in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
It is there that we discover a beautiful truth: what once seemed broken can, by God’s grace, become something transformed. Nothing in our lives is beyond His healing. Nothing is beyond His mercy. Nothing is beyond His peace.
May the Risen Christ meet you where you are and fill your heart with His peace.
Be assured of my prayers for you and your families during this blessed Easter season.