Shalom

Sisters and brothers in Christ, after some turmoil or conflict in our lives, we often say that we have "made peace it" or "I am at peace with it" or we have reached a "peaceful resolution". While all of these are good things, the peace that God desires for us is "more than an absence of conflict" but rather "the presence in the human person and their relationships that everything should be there."

The peace that God desires for us Saint Paul describes beautifully in his letter to the Ephesians, saying: "strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner self, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts  through faith; that you, rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."

In other words, the peace that God desire for us is "a kind of equilibrium that comes from trusting in God and the experience that everything is alright, that everything is in the hands of God. It is the tranquil state of a soul fearing nothing from God and content with its earthly lot, of what so ever sort that is." Jesus tells us in the Gospel of Matthew: "Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself." Peace be with you!

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Gospel of the Day

Jesus said to his disciples:

“I have come to set the earth on fire,

and how I wish it were already blazing!

There is a baptism with which I must be baptized,

and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished!

Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth?

No, I tell you, but rather division.

From now on a household of five will be divided,

three against two and two against three;

a father will be divided against his son

and a son against his father, 

a mother against her daughter

and a daughter against her mother,

a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law

and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”