One week after Easter you and I are not anxious disciples, doubled over in fear, crouching in a dark corner of our safe house, awaiting Roman soldiers to beat down the door and kill us.

We are not pulling the blinds at midday hiding from immigration police out to permanently separate us from our spouse and children.

And we are not Syrian peasants in an underground air raid shelter, huddling close together with our families as artillery shells threaten our neighborhood and our lives.

But we are suburban mothers, worried about our children - fearful of the dangerous world they're growing up in.

We are senior citizens, facing the final chapters of our lives with all the incumbent aches, pains, and financial uncertainties.

And we are proud Americans, living in unsettled and unpredictable times, often feeling depressed, overwhelmed, underpaid, overworked, anxious, out of sorts, burned out, and unable to keep up.

And into the midst of every of these very different scenarios comes the same risen Christ. His message is as consistent as his presence:

Peace be with you.

Sure, we might wish he came to solve, sort, save, or otherwise secure us, but his most endearing and most valuable promise is to simply be with us, for he is peace. With him is peace.

Being in a peaceful place matters much less than being with a peaceful person.