Christ’s heart, opened on the cross, is the doorway to His peace. On the cross, we see the full depth of divine love. A love that does not retaliate when wronged. A love that forgives in the face of cruelty. We cannot receive the peace of the risen Christ while refusing the way of the crucified Christ.
During Easter, it is common for us to offer to others the greeting, “Peace of the Risen Christ.” While this is indeed a beautiful sentiment, it naturally prompts us to reflect on its true significance. We may find ourselves asking: What does this greeting really mean? We might wonder what it feels like to experience the “Peace of the Risen Christ” in our own lives. This peace is not mere emotional calm, nor is it the absence of conflict. Rather, it is a profound reconciliation, a wholeness that reaches into the deepest fractures of the human condition. This peace does not arise in isolation from suffering – It is only possible through the heart of the crucified Christ. To understand this, one must hold together two inseparable realities: the resurrection and the crucifixion. The risen Christ cannot be fully known apart from the crucified Christ. The peace He offers is inseparable from the suffering He endured. The presence and power of the Risen Christ that bestows peace on all reality and every person, becomes a reality in our lives when we open our hearts to the love of God poured out in the crucified Christ. Simply put – the path to the peace of the Risen Christ is through the loving heart of the crucified Christ.
The crucifixion signifies the full depth of human brokenness – violence, rejection, injustice, and abandonment. Yet, it is also the place where divine love is most fully revealed. On the cross, Christ does not respond to hatred with hatred, nor to violence with retaliation. Instead, He embodies forgiveness, surrender, and self-giving love. The heart of the crucified Christ symbolizes this interior reality: a love poured out completely, even in the face of suffering. It is from this heart that peace is born. The resurrection is not a denial of suffering; it is its transformation. The peace of the risen Christ is credible precisely because it has passed through the worst that human existence can inflict. It is not fragile or conditional. It is a peace that has endured betrayal and death and yet remains unbroken. Thus, it carries within it a depth that cannot be achieved by fleeing from the inevitable suffering to which the cross calls us. This has profound implications for our lives. If the peace of Christ flows from the heart of the crucified, then it cannot be received by avoiding suffering or clinging to control. Instead, it requires sharing in the same pattern of self-giving love. To receive this peace is to be drawn into a way of being that reflects the crucified Christ: forgiveness in the face of injury, trust amid uncertainty, and surrender in moments of loss. These are not natural human inclinations; they are transformative practices that reshape the heart. They are possible for us to the degree that we allow our hearts to be conformed to the burning heart of the crucified Christ.
Christ’s heart, opened on the cross, is the doorway to His peace. On the cross, we see the full depth of divine love. A love that does not retaliate when wronged. A love that forgives in the face of cruelty. A love that pours itself out completely. We cannot receive the peace of the risen Christ while refusing the way of the crucified Christ. If we cling to resentment, how can we know His peace? If we guard ourselves against vulnerability, how can we experience His healing? If we resist surrender, how can we enter into His rest?
The peace Christ gives is not something He hands over casually. It is something He draws us into. He invites us into His own heart – the heart that was broken, yet lives, the heart that suffered, yet forgives, the heart that died, yet reigns in peace. To receive His peace, we must allow our hearts to be shaped by His. This means learning to forgive when it hurts. It means trusting God in moments of loss. It means surrendering control when everything in us wants to grasp tightly. It means believing that even in suffering, God is at work bringing life out of death. And here is the promise: when we enter into the heart of the crucified Christ, we do not remain in suffering – we are led through it into resurrection.
The peace of the risen Christ is only possible through the heart of the crucified Christ because it is born from a love that has fully entered into human suffering and transformed it from within. It invites us not merely to admire Christ’s journey but to participate in it, trusting that through the way of the cross comes the fullness of resurrection life. Only in losing our lives, shedding our protective layers, releasing our tight grip on control can we touch the wounds of life with the healing power of love. The same power that raised Christ from the dead begins to work within us. The same peace He spoke to His disciples begins to take root in our souls. Not because life becomes easy, but because we are anchored in something eternal.
May the Peace of the Risen Christ be with you!
Friar Terence Bateman OFM Conv
