Greeting Jesus is a natural and human way of staying connected because greetings are the most common way we connect with others and affirm our shared humanity. They are so much more than polite practices or expressions of civility. They ground us. This is the reason Jesus greets people after his resurrection. His “Peace be with you” is not a grand gesture with deep theological significance. It is the way people of his time greeted one another. It was the same as saying, “good evening” or “good afternoon.” It is much the same as saying, “Come have breakfast.” Jesus greets his followers as a natural means of connecting his glorified humanity with their humanity, just as he had done throughout his ministry. By grounding his new state of being, he prevents his glorified body from becoming for them and for us an unapproachable spectacle. No wonder he was preoccupied with meals. No wonder he let Thomas touch him. By greeting the Lord each morning, we begin the day by connecting our life with the life of the incarnate Christ. We tether his life with our own by reminding ourselves of the relationship that matters most to us.
—from the book Prayer Everywhere: The Spiritual Life Made Simple
by Fr. Gary Caster
