DAILY READING and REFLECTIONS For Sunday, June 08, 2014 Pentecost Sunday - Proper (Red) 8th Sunday of Easter Readings: Acts 2:1-11; Ps 104:1-34; 1 Cor 12:3-13; John 20:19-23 Vigil of the Solemnity of the Pentecost Response: Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth. Rosary: Glorious Mysteries Key Verse: Peace be with you.....Receive the Holy Spirit. SAINT OF THE DAY: Saint William of York St. William of York, Bishop (Feast day is June 8th). William of York was the son of Count Herbert, treasurer to Henry I. His mother Emma, was the half-sister of King William. Young William became treasurer of the church of York at an early age and was elected archbishop of York in 1140. Williams election was challenged on the grounds of simony and unchastity. He was cleared by Rome, but later, a new Pope, the Cistercian Eugene III, suspended William, and in 1147, he was deposed as archbishop of York. William then retired to Winchester where he led the austere life of a monk, practicing much prayer and mortification. Upon the death of his accusers and Eugene III, Pope Anastastius IV restored William his See and made him archbishop. However, after one month back in York, the saintly prelate died in the year 1154. Some claim he was poisoned by the archdeacon of York, but no record of any resolution in the case remains extant. Pope Honorius III canonized William in 1227. READINGS FOR THE DAY: READING 1: Acts 2:1-11 1 When Pentecost day came round, they had all met together, 2 when suddenly there came from heaven a sound as of a violent wind which filled the entire house in which they were sitting; 3 and there appeared to them tongues as of fire; these separated and came to rest on the head of each of them. 4 They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak different languages as the Spirit gave them power to express themselves. 5 Now there were devout men living in Jerusalem from every nation under heaven, 6 and at this sound they all assembled, and each one was bewildered to hear these men speaking his own language. 7 They were amazed and astonished. Surely, they said, all these men speaking are Galileans? 8 How does it happen that each of us hears them in his own native language? 9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; people from Mesopotamia, Judaea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya round Cyrene; residents of Rome- 11 Jews and proselytes alike -- Cretans and Arabs, we hear them preaching in our own language about the marvels of God. RESPONSORIAL PSALM, Psalms 104:1, 24, 29-30, 31, 34 1 Bless Yahweh, my soul, Yahweh, my God, how great you are! Clothed in majesty and splendour, 24 How countless are your works, Yahweh, all of them made so wisely! The earth is full of your creatures. 29 Turn away your face and they panic; take back their breath and they die and revert to dust. 30 Send out your breath and life begins; you renew the face of the earth. 31 Glory to Yahweh for ever! May Yahweh find joy in his creatures! 34 May my musings be pleasing to him, for Yahweh gives me joy. READING 2, First Corinthians 12:3-7, 12-13 3 Because of that, I want to make it quite clear to you that no one who says A curse on Jesus can be speaking in the Spirit of God, and nobody is able to say, Jesus is Lord except in the Holy Spirit. 4 There are many different gifts, but it is always the same Spirit; 5 there are many different ways of serving, but it is always the same Lord. 6 There are many different forms of activity, but in everybody it is the same God who is at work in them all. 7 The particular manifestation of the Spirit granted to each one is to be used for the general good. 12 For as with the human body which is a unity although it has many parts -- all the parts of the body, though many, still making up one single body -- so it is with Christ. 13 We were baptised into one body in a single Spirit, Jews as well as Greeks, slaves as well as free men, and we were all given the same Spirit to drink. GOSPEL, John 20:19-23 19 In the evening of that same day, the first day of the week, the doors were closed in the room where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them. He said to them, Peace be with you, 20 and, after saying this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were filled with joy at seeing the Lord, 21 and he said to them again, Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, so am I sending you. 22 After saying this he breathed on them and said: Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyones sins, they are forgiven; if you retain anyones sins, they are retained. REFLECTIONS: Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God) OPENING PRAYER: Lord Jesus, send your Spirit to help us to read the Scriptures with the same mind that you read them to the disciples on the way to Emmaus. In the light of the Word, written in the Bible, you helped them to discover the presence of God in the disturbing events of your sentence and death. Thus, the cross that seemed to be the end of all hope became for them the source of life and of resurrection. Create in us silence so that we may listen to your voice in Creation and in the Scriptures, in events and in people, above all in the poor and suffering. May your word guide us so that we too, like the two disciples from Emmaus, may experience the force of your resurrection and witness to others that you are alive in our midst as source of fraternity, justice and peace. We ask this of you, Jesus, son of Mary, who revealed to us the Father and sent us your Spirit. Amen. ON READING 1: Acts 2:1-11 (The Coming of the Holy Spirit) This account of the Holy Spirit visibly coming down on the disciples who, in keeping with Jesus instructions, had stayed together in Jerusalem, gives limited information as to the time and place of the event, yet it is full of content. Pentecost was one of the three great Jewish feasts for which many Israelites went on pilgrimage to the Holy City to worship God in the temple. It originated as a harvest thanksgiving, with an offering of first-fruits. Later it was given the additional dimension of commemorating the promulgation of the Law given by God to Moses on Sinai. The Pentecost celebration was held fifty days after the Passover, that is, after seven weeks had passed. The material harvest which the Jews celebrated so joyously became, through Gods providence, the symbol of the spiritual harvest which the Apostles began to reap on this day. Wind and fire were elements which typically accompanied manifestations of God in the Old Testament (cf. Ex 3:2; l 3:21-22; 2 Kings 5:24; Ps 104:3). In this instance, as Chrysostom explains, it would seem that separate tongues of fire came down on each of them: they were separated, which means they came from one and the same source, to show that the Power all comes from the Paraclete (Hom. on Acts, 4). The wind and the noise must have been so intense that they caused people to flock to the place. The fire symbolizes the action of the Holy Spirit who, by enlightening the minds of the disciples, enables them to understand Jesuss teachings--as Jesus promised at the Last Supper (cf. Jn 16:4-14); by inflaming their hearts with love he dispels their fear and moves them to preach boldly. Fire also has a purifying effect, Gods action cleansing the soul of all trace of sin. Pentecost was not an isolated event in the life of the Church, something over and done with. We have the right, the duty and the joy to tell you that Pentecost is still happening. We can legitimately speak of the lasting value of Pentecost. We know that fifty days after Easter, the Apostles, gathered together in the same Cenacle as had been used for the first Eucharist and from which they had gone out to meet the Risen One for the first time, discover in themselves the power of the Holy Spirit who descended upon them, the strength of Him whom the Lord had promised so often as the outcome of his suffering on the Cross; and strengthened in this way, they began to act, that is, to perform their role. Thus is born the apostolic Church. But even today--and herein the continuity lies -- the Basilica of St Peter in Rome and every Temple, every Oratory, every place where the disciples of the Lord gather, is an extension of that original Cenacle (Bl. John Paul II, Homily, 25 May 1980). Vatican II (cf. Ad gentes, 4) quotes St Augustines description of the Holy Spirit as the soul, the source of life, of the Church, which was born on the Cross on Good Friday and whose birth was announced publicly on the day of Pentecost: Today, as you know, the Church was fully born, through the breath of Christ, the Holy Spirit; and in the Church was born the Word, the witness to and promulgation of salvation in the risen Jesus; and in him who listens to this promulgation is born faith, and with faith a new life, an awareness of the Christian vocation and the ability to hear that calling and to follow it by living a genuinely human life, indeed a life which is not only human but holy. And to make this divine intervention effective, today was born the apostolate, the priesthood, the ministry of the Spirit, the calling to unity, fraternity and peace (Paul VI, Address, 25 May 1969). Mary, who conceived Christ by the work of the Holy Spirit, the Love of the living God, presides over the birth of the Church, on the day of Pentecost, when the same Holy Spirit comes down on the disciples and gives life to the mystical body of Christians in unity and charity (Paul VI, Address, 25 October 1969). In his account of the events of Pentecost St Luke distinguishes devout men (v. 5), Jews and proselytes (v. 11). The first-mentioned were people who were residing in Jerusalem for reasons of study or piety, to be near the only temple the Jews had. They were Jews--not to be confused with God-fearing men, that is, pagans sympathetic to Judaism, who worshipped the God of the Bible and who, if they became converts and members of the Jewish religion by being circumcised and by observing the Mosaic Law, were what were called prose- lytes, whom Luke distinguishes from the Jews, that is, those of Jewish race. People of different races and tongues understand Peter, each in his or her own language. They can do so thanks to a special grace from the Holy Spirit given them for the occasion; this is not the same as the gift of speaking with tongues which some of the early Christians had (cf. 1 Cor 14), which allowed them to praise God and speak to him in a language which they themselves did not understand. When the Fathers of the Church comment on this passage they frequently point to the contrast between the confusion of languages that came about at Babel (cf. Gen 11:1-9)--Gods punishment for mans pride and infidelity -- and the reversal of this confusion on the day of Pentecost, thanks to the grace of the Holy Spirit. The Second Vatican Council stresses the same idea: Without doubt, the Holy Spirit was at work in the world before Christ was glorified. On the day of Pentecost, however, he came down on the disciples that he might remain with them forever (cf. Jn 14;16); on that day the Church was openly displayed to the crowds and the spread of the Gospel among the nations, through preaching, was begun. Finally, on that day was foreshadowed the union of all peoples in the catholicity of the faith by means of the Church of the New Alliance, a Church which speaks every language, understands and embraces all tongues in charity, and thus overcomes the dispersion of Babel (Ad Gentes, 4). Christians need this gift for their apostolic activity and should ask the Holy Spirit to give it to them to help them express themselves in such a way that others can understand their message; to be able so to adapt what they say to suit the outlook and capacity of their hearers, that they pass Christs truth on: Every generation of Christians needs to redeem, to sanctify, its own time. To do this, it must understand and share the desires of other men -- their equals -- in order to make known to them, with a gift of tongues, how they are to respond to the action of the Holy Spirit, to that permanent outflow of rich treasures that comes from our Lords heart. We Christians are called upon to announce, in our own time, to this world to which we belong and in which we live, the message -- old and at the same time new -- of the Gospel (St. J. Escriva, Christ Is Passing By, 132). ON READING 2: 1 Corinthians 12:3-7, 12-13 (Kinds of Spiritual Gifts and Unity and Variety in the Mystical Body of Christ) This provides a general principle for discerning signs of the Holy Spirit -- recognition of Christ as Lord. It follows that the gifts of the Holy Spirit can never go against the teaching of the Church. Those who have charge over the Church should judge the genuineness and proper use of these gifts, not indeed to extinguish the Spirit, but to test all things and hold fast to what is good (cf. Thess 5:12 and 19-21) (Lumen Gentium, 12). God is the origin of spiritual gifts. Probably when St Paul speaks of gifts, service (ministries), varieties of working, he is not referring to graces which are essentially distinct from one another, but to different perspectives from which these gifts can be viewed, and to their attribution to the Three Divine Persons. Insofar as they are gratuitously bestowed they are attributed to the Holy Spirit, as he confirms in v. 11; insofar as they are granted for the benefit and service of the other members of the Church, they are attributed to Christ the Lord, who came not to be served but to serve (Mk 10:45); and insofar as they are operative and produce a good effect, they are attributed to God the Father. In this way the various graces which the members of the Church receive are a living reflection of God who, being essentially one, in so is a trinity of persons. The whole Church has the appearance of a people gathered together by virtue of the unity of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (St Cyprian, De Dominica Oratione, 23). Therefore, diversity of gifts and graces is as important as their basic unity, because all have the same divine origin and the same purpose -- the common good (v. 7): It is the Holy Spirit, dwelling in those who believe and pervading and ruling over the entire Church, who brings about that wonderful communion of the faithful and joins them together so intimately in Christ that he is the principle of the Churchs unity. By distributing various kinds of spiritual gifts and ministries he enriches the Church of Jesus Christ with different functions in order to equip the saints for the work of service, so as to build up the body of Christ (Eph 4:12) (Vatican II, Unitatis Redintegratio, 2). In Greek and Latin literature, society is often compared to a body; even today we talk of corporations, a term which conveys the idea that all the citizens of a particular city are responsible for the common good. St Paul, starting with this metaphor, adds two important features: 1) he identifies the Church with Christ: so it is with Christ (v. 12); and 2) he says that the Holy Spirit is its life-principle: by one Spirit we were all baptized..., and all made to drink of the Spirit (v. 13). The Magisterium summarizes this teaching by defining the Church as the mystical body of Christ, an expression which is derived from and is, as it were, the fair flower of the repeated teaching of Sacred Scripture and the holy Fathers (Pius XII, Mystici Corporis). So it is with Christ: One would have expected him to say, so it is with the Church, but he does not say that. For, just as the body and the head are one man, so too Christ and the Church are one, and therefore instead of the Church he says Christ (Chrysostom, Hom. on 1 Cor, 30, ad loc.). This identification of the Church with Christ is much more than a mere metaphor; it makes the Church a society which is radically different from any other society: The complete Christ is made up of the head and the body, as I am sure you know well. The head is our Savior himself, who suffered under Pontius Pilate and now, after rising from the dead, is seated at the right hand of the Father. And his body is the Church. Not this or that church, but the Church which is to be found all over the world. Nor is it only that which exists among us today, for also belonging to it are those who lived before us and those who will live in the future, right up to the end of the world. All this Church, made up of the assembly of the faithful -- for all the faithful are members of Christ -- has Christ as its head, governing his body from heaven. And although this head is located out of sight of the body, he is, however, joined to it by love (St. Augustine, Enarrationes in Psalmos, 56, 1). The Churchs remarkable unity derives from the Holy Spirit who not only assembles the faithful into a society but also imbues and vivifies its members, exercising the same function as the soul does in a physical body: In order that we might be unceasingly renewed in him (cf. Eph 4:23), he has shared with us his Spirit who, being one and the same in head and members, gives life to, unifies and moves the whole body. Consequently, his work could be compared by the Fathers to the function that the principle of life, the soul, fulfils in the human body (Vatican II, Lumen Gentium, 7). All were made to drink of one Spirit: given that the Apostle says this immediately after mentioning Baptism, he seems to be referring to a further outpouring of the Holy Spirit, possibly in the sacrament of Confirmation. It is not uncommon for Sacred Scripture to compare the outpouring of the Spirit to drink, indicating that the effects of his presence are to revive the parched soul; in the Old Testament the coming of the Holy Spirit is already compared to dew, rain, etc.; and St. John repeats what our Lord said about living water (Jn 7:38 ; cf. 4:13-14). Together with the sacraments of Christian initiation, the Eucharist plays a special role in building up the unity of the body of Christ. Really sharing in the body of the Lord in the breaking of the eucharistic bread, we are taken up into communion with him and with one another. Because the bread is one, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of one bread (1 Cor 10:17). In this way all of us are made members of his body (cf. 1 Cor 12:27), and individual members of one ano- ther (Rom 12:5) (Lumen Gentium, 7). ON THE GOSPEL: John 20:19-23 (Jesus Appears to the Disciples) The disciples were gathered together, and the doors were well closed. They were afraid of the Jews. All of a sudden, Jesus stood in their midst and said: “Peace be with you!” After showing them the hands and his side, once again he said: “Peace be with you”! As the Father has sent me, I also send you!” And immediately he gave them the gift of the Spirit so that they could forgive sins and reconcile persons among themselves and with God. To reconcile and to construct peace! Behold this is the mission which they received and which endures up until today! Humanity is lacking peace more and more: to put together the pieces of a disintegrated life, to reconstruct human relationships, broken because of the injustices committed and because of so many other reasons. Jesus insists on peace, and he repeats it several times! During the reading of the brief text of the Gospel of this Pentecost Sunday, we try to be attentive to the attitudes of Jesus as well as to those of the disciples, and to the words of Jesus which he pronounces with such solemnity. Heres a division of the text to help the reading: John 20, 19-20: The description of the experience of the Resurrection John 20, 21: the sending out: “As the Father has sent me, I also send you” John 20, 22: The gift of the Spirit John 20, 23: The power to forgive sins The text of the Gospel of John is like a very beautiful fabric, made with three threads of different colours. The three threads are so well combined with one another that it is not always possible to see when one passes from one thread to the other. (i) The first thread are the facts of the life of Jesus, which took place in the year thirty in Palestine, preserved in the memory of the Beloved Disciple and of many other witnesses (I Jn 1, 1-4). (ii) The second thread are the facts of the life of the communities. Because of their faith in Jesus and convinced of his presence, in their midst, the communities enlightened their life with the Word and the gestures of Jesus. That influenced the description of the facts. For example, the conflicts of the communities with the Pharisees towards the end of the first century indicate the way in which are described the conflicts of Jesus with the Pharisees. (iii) The third thread are the comments made by the Evangelist. In certain passages, it can hardly be perceived when Jesus finishes speaking and the redactor begins to knit in his own comments. (Jn 2, 22; 3, 16-21; 7, 39; 12, 37-43; 20, 30-31). John 20, 19-20: A description of the experience of the Resurrection Jesus becomes present in the community. Not even the closed doors prevent him from being in the midst of those who do not recognize him. Even today, it is the same thing! When we are gathered together, even if all the doors are closed, Jesus is in our midst! And also today, the first word of Jesus, will always be: “Peace be with you!” He shows the signs of the Passion on his hands and his side. The Risen Lord is the Crucified Lord! The Jesus who is with us in the community is not a glorious Jesus who had nothing in common with the life of the people. But it is the same Jesus who came on this earth and who bears the signs of his Passion. And today these same signs are found in the suffering of the people. They are the signs of hunger, of torture, of wars, of sickness, of violence, of injustice. So many signs! And in the persons who react and struggle for life, Jesus resurrects and makes himself present in our midst. Jesus appears to the Apostles on the evening of the day of which He rose. He presents Himself in their midst without any need for the doors to be opened, by using the qualities of His glorified body; but in order to dispel any impression that He is only a spirit He shows them His hands and His side: there is no longer any doubt about its being Jesus Himself, about His being truly risen from the dead. He greets them twice using the words of greeting customary among the Jews, with the same tenderness as He previously used put into this salutation. These friendly words dispel the fear and shame the Apostles must have been feeling at behaving so disloyally during His passion: He has created the normal atmosphere of intimacy, and now He will endow them with transcendental powers. John 20, 21: The sending out: “As the Father has sent me, I also send you!” From this Crucified and Risen Jesus we receive the mission, the same one that He received from the Father. And for us also he repeats: “Peace be with you!” The repetition confirms the importance of peace. To construct peace forms part of the mission. The Peace which Jesus gives us means much more than the absence of war. It signifies to construct a human, harmonious environment, in which persons can be themselves, with all that is necessary to live, and where they can live happy and in peace. In one word, it means to construct a community according to the community of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Pope Leo XIII explained how Christ transferred His own mission to the Apostles: What did He wish in regard to the Church founded, or about to be founded? This: to transmit to it the same mission and the same mandate which He had received from the Father, that they should be perpetuated. This He clearly resolved to do: this He actually did. As the Father hath sent Me, even so I send you (John 20:21). As Thou didst send Me into the world, so I have sent them into the world (John 17:18). When about to ascend into Heaven, He sends His Apostles in virtue of the same power by which He had been sent from the Father; and He charges them to spread abroad and propagate His teachings (cf. Matthew 28:18), so that those obeying the Apostles might be saved, and those disobeying should perish (cf. Mark 16:16). Hence He commands that the teaching of the Apostles should be religiously accepted and piously kept as if it were His own: He who hears you hears Me, and he who rejects you rejects Me (Luke 10:16). Wherefore the Apostles are ambassadors of Christ as He is the ambassador of the Father (Leo XIII, Satis Cognitum). In this mission the bishops are the successors of the Apostles: Christ sent the Apostles as He Himself had been sent by the Father, and then through the Apostles made their successors, the bishops, sharers in His consecration and mission. The function of the bishops ministry was handed over in a subordinate degree to priests so that they might be appointed in the order of the priesthood and be co-workers of the episcopal order for the proper fulfillment of the apostolic mission that had been entrusted to it by Christ (Vatican II, Presbyterorum Ordinis, 2). John 20.22: Jesus gives the gift of the Spirit Jesus breathed and said: “Receive the Holy Spirit”. And therefore, it is with the help of the Holy Spirit that we can carry out the mission which He entrusts to us. In the Gospel of John, the Resurrection (Passover) and the effusion of the Spirit (Pentecost) are one same thing. All takes place in the same moment. John 20, 23: Jesus gives the power to forgive sins The central point of the mission of peace is found in reconciliation, in the effort to overcome the barriers which separate us: “to those to whom you forgive sins, they will be forgiven and to those to whom you do not forgive them, will not be forgiven”. Then this power of reconciliation and of forgiving is given to the disciples. In the Gospel of Matthew, this same power is also given to Peter (Mt 16,19) and to the communities (Mt 18, 18). A community without pardon and without reconciliation is not a Christian community. The Church has always understood--and has in fact defined--that Jesus Christ here conferred on the Apostles authority to forgive sins, a power which is exercised in the Sacrament of Penance. The Lord then especially instituted the Sacrament of Penance when, after being risen from the dead, He breathed upon His disciples and said: Receive the Holy Spirit... The consensus of all the Fathers has always acknowledged that by this action so sublime and words so clear the power of forgiving and retaining sins was given to the Apostles and their lawful successors for reconciling the faithful who have fallen after Baptism (Council of Trent, De Paenitentia, Chapter 1). The Sacrament of Penance is the most sublime expression of Gods love and mercy towards men, described so vividly in Jesus parable of the prodigal son (cf. Luke 15:11-32). The Lord always awaits us, with His arms wide open, waiting for us to repent--and then He will forgive us and restore us to the dignity of being His sons. The Popes have consistently recommended Christians to have regular recourse to this Sacrament: For a constant and speedy advancement in the path of virtue we highly recommend the pious practice of frequent Confession, introduced by the Church under the guidance of the Holy Spirit; for by this means we grow in a true knowledge of ourselves and in Christian humility, bad habits are uprooted, spiritual negligence and apathy are prevented, the conscience is purified and the will strengthened, salutary spiritual direction is obtained, and grace is increased by the efficacy of the Sacrament itself (Pius XII, Mystici Corporis). The action of the Holy Spirit in the Gospel of John: In Hebrew the same word is used to say wind and spirit. The wind has in itself a goal, a direction: North wind, South wind. The same for the Spirit of God (the wind of God) has in itself a goal, a project, which manifests itself in many ways in the works which the Spirit of God fulfils in creation, in history, and above all, in Jesus. The great promise of the Spirit becomes present in the prophets: the sight of the dry bones which become alive, thanks to the force of the Spirit of God (Ez 37, 1-14); the effusion of the Spirit of God on all people (Gl 3, 1-5); the vision of the Messiah the Servant who will be anointed by the Spirit to re-establish the right on earth and to proclaim the Good News to the poor (Is 11, 1-9; 42, 1; 44, 1-3; 61, 1-3). The prophets foresee a future in which the People of God is reborn thanks to the effusion of the Spirit (Ez 36, 26-27; Ps 51, 12: cf. Is 32, 15-20). In the Gospel of John these prophecies are fulfilled in Jesus. As it happened in creation (Gen 1, 1), in the same way the Spirit appears and descends on Jesus “under the form of a dove form heaven” (Jn 1, 32), It is the beginning of the new creation! Jesus pronounces the words of God and communicates to us the Spirit in abundance (Jn 3, 34). His words are Spirit and life (Jn 6, 63). When Jesus leaves, he says that he will send another consoler, another defender whom he will leave with us. It is the Holy Spirit (Jn 14, 16-17). By his passion, death and resurrection, Jesus wins for us the gift of the Spirit. When he appears to the Apostles, he breathed on them and said: “Receive the Holy Spirit!” (Jn 20, 22). The first effect of the action of the Holy Spirit in us is reconciliation: “to those to whom you remit sins, they will be remitted and to those to whom you do not remit them, they will not be remitted!” (Jn 20, 23). Through Baptism we all receive this same Spirit of Jesus (Jn 1, 33). The Spirit is like the water which springs from within the person who believes in Jesus (Jn 7, 37-39; 4, 14). The Spirit is given to us to be able to remember and understand the full significance of the Words of Jesus (Jn 14, 26; 16, 12-13). Animated by the Spirit of Jesus we can adore God every where (Jn 4, 23-24). Here the liberty of the Spirit is lived. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom”, Saint Paul confirms it ( 2 Cor 3, 17). Shalom: the construction of peace In the Gospel of John, the first encounter between the Risen Jesus and his disciples is marked by a greeting: “Peace be with you!” The peace which Jesus gives us is different from the Pax Romana, constructed by the Roman Empire (Jn 14, 27). Peace in the Bible (shalom), is a word rich with a deep significance. It means integrity of the persons before God and others. It means also a full life, happy, abundant (Jn 10, 10). Peace is the sign of the presence of God, because our God is a God of Peace “Yahweh is Peace” (Jer 6, 24). “May the Peace of God be with you!” (Rom 15, 33). This is the reason why the peace of God produces violent reactions. As the Psalm says: “Too long have I lived among people who hate peace. When I speak of peace they are all for war!” (Ps 120, 6-7). The peace which Jesus gives us is the sign of a “sword” (Mt 10, 34). It is necessary to have trust, to struggle, to work, to persevere in the Spirit in order that the peace of God may triumph one day. And that day “love and truth will meet, justice and peace will embrace” (Ps 85, 11). And then, “The Kingdom of God will be justice, peace and joy, and these will be the fruits of the Holy Spirit” (Rom 14, 17) and “God will be all in all” (I Co 15, 28). FINAL PRAYERS: Lord Jesus, we thank for the word that has enabled us to understand better the will of the Father. May your Spirit enlighten our actions and grant us the strength to practice that which your Word has revealed to us. May we, like Mary, your mother, not only listen to but also practise the Word. You who live and reign with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen. The higher the love, the more demands will be made on us to conform to that ideal. -— Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ. -- St. Jerome The Father uttered one Word; that Word is His Son, and He utters Him forever in everlasting silence; and in silence the soul has to hear it. -- St. John of the Cross
Posted on: Sun, 08 Jun 2014 00:23:57 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015