My Book of Faith: 17 The Holy Church and the Holy Sacraments

God's Introduction
Forword
SECTION I: Background
1. Meet The Author
2. How God Communicated with Me
SECTION II: The Story of Creation
1. The Origin and Nature of God
2. In The Beginning
  - The Creation of the World
  - The Life God Created
3. Life in Heaven
SECTION III: Our Separation from God
SECTION IV: Understanding Salvation
1. The Purpose, Life and Death of Jesus Christ
2. The Mystery that is Mary, Mother of God
  - Queen of Heaven and the Universe
3. The Path of Salvation
4. The Road Less Travelled
5. The Promises of Salvation
SECTION V: Building Your Relationship With God

Section 5 Building Your Relationship With God - 17 The Holy Church And The Holy Sacraments

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Question: God, going back to the response: “but only say the word and I shall be healed”. What is the word ?

God’s answer:

Shalom

Meaning: The English equivalent of the Hebrew word Shalom is peace. Hence, in the sculpture, the word PAX is written in the Holy Eucharist.

“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, do I give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid.”
John 14:27

To get a glimpse of the peace that God gives, one must look at the meaning of the Hebrew word “Shalom”.

“Shalom (Hebrew: שָׁלם וֹ shalom; also spelled as sholom, sholem, sholoim, shulem) is a Hebrew word meaning peace, harmony, wholeness, completeness, prosperity, welfare and tranquility and can be used idiomatically to mean both hello and goodbye.

As it does in English, it can refer to either peace between two entities (especially between man and God or between two countries), or to the well-being, welfare or safety of an individual or a group of individuals. Stendebach and Ringgren writes that a more thorough etymological analysis of Hebrew roots reveal that 'Lom was the basic root word for Shalom. The word shalom is also found in many other expressions and names. Its equivalent cognate in Arabic is salaam, sliem in Maltese, Shlama in Syriac-Assyrian and sälam in Ethiopian Semitic languages from the Proto-Semitic root Š-L-M.

In Hebrew, the root of the word (usually in a three- or occasionally four- letter format), and depending on the vowels that are used, has several meanings (that are relevant to the general meaning of the word shalom); as for example: One meaning is "whole", another could be the actual verb "pay" usually in command form. The conjugated verb has other spins that are worth noting, such as: "hishtalem" meaning "it was worth it" or "shulam" as "it was paid for" or "meshulam" as in "paid

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in advance". Hence one can jokingly say that, "when it's paid-for, then there is peace".

The Hebrew term shalom is roughly translated to other languages as peace [En.] (i.e. paz [Sp. and Pr.], paix [Fr.], pace [It.]), from the Latin pax. Pax, in Latin, means peace, but it was also used to mean truce or treaty. So, deriving from the definition and use in Latin, most Romance terms simply use the word peace to mean such, and also provides a relational application (be it personal, social or political) – a state of mind and affairs. Peace is an important word in the Christian sacred scriptures and liturgy. Eirene, the Greek term translated to peace, also means quietness and rest.

Shalom, in the liturgy and in the transcendent message of the Christian scriptures, means more than a state of mind, of being or of affairs. Derived from the Hebrew root shalam – meaning to be safe or complete, and by implication, to be friendly or to reciprocate. Shalom, as term and message, seems to encapsulate a reality and hope of wholeness for the individual, within societal relations, and for the whole world. To say joy and peace, meaning a state of affairs where there is no dispute or war, does not begin to describe the sense of the term. Completeness seems to be at the center of shalom as we will see in the meaning of the term itself, in some derivatives from its root, shalam, in some examples of its uses in Jewish and Christian Scriptures, and in some homophone terms from other Semitic languages.

The noun shalom means safe, for example, well and happy. On a more abstract application, its use points to welfare, for example, health, prosperity, and peace. It is the verb form shalam, though, that provides a deeper understanding of this term in theology, doctrine, and liturgy. Literally translated, shalam signals to a state of safety, but figuratively it points to completeness. In its use in Scripture, shalom describes the actions that lead to a state of soundness, or better yet wholeness. So to say, shalom seems not to merely speak of a state of affairs, but describes a process, an activity, a movement towards fullness. Using the King James Version as reference, James Strong lists the rendering of shalom and shalam, among others, as:

To make amends
To make good
To be (or to make) peace

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