Readings: Acts 14:19-28; Ps.145; John 14:27-31
Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.
EMBRACING THE PEACE GOD IS OFFERING US
The ugly events we hear and experience daily especially the cases of killings, hatred, betrayals, greed; social and economic injustice, bloodshed, kidnapping, banditry and the massacre of innocent people all over the world, are a clear sign that the world has lost a treasure which she enjoys in the presence of God before the fall of man.
By original sin, man has lost the peace he enjoyed with God. But God, who is compassionate and gracious, will restore this peace. Hence Jesus who is the fulfillment of God’s plan in time, offers peace to the world as his first gift after his resurrection, when he said to his disciples in our Gospel passage today, “peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid”.
The word Peace from the Hebrew word shalom means more than an absence of conflict or disturbance or war. Rather, it signifies a state of complete integration of unity between God and Man, between man and neighbours, and between man and his environment.
It thus implies everything that Jesus came to achieve in this world. It is the legacy of his life, death and resurrection. Little wonder these words of Jesus are repeated at every Eucharistic celebration, where Jesus offers us his peace again and again.
But the questions we need to ask ourselves are: Have we really embraced this peace in our lives? Do we experience this peace at the Eucharistic banquet every time we participate in the Holy Mass? Am I an instrument of peace to my neighbour, my family and the society at large? Am I ready to sacrifice my possessions, my ambition and my life for the sake of peace? Am I ready to forgive those who offended me and seek reconciliation for the sake of peace?
St Paul in our first reading today was stoned and dragged out of the city because he offered the word of peace to the people who rejected it. Should we give up because our peace has been rejected by people? Should we stop being peace-loving because of persecution?
Will I be courageous enough to let peace be known in the world where killings, hatred, betrayals, greed; social and economic injustice, bloodshed, kidnapping, banditry and the massacre of innocent people have become the order of the day? Will I use the peace I have found in Jesus to reshape the world around me? Will I let this peace reign supreme in my heart?
Dear friends, we all need peace, but peace is not cheap, because it requires sacrifice. Are we ready to sacrifice for the sake of peace like Jesus? In every Eucharistic sacrifice, Jesus offers us his peace in a sacrificial way. Today, he is searching for genuine and accessible instruments of peace.
He wants to use us as his instruments of peace in our families and in the world. Are we available? Can we make the sacrifices and be the instruments of peace? Can his peace reign in our hearts, so that we can extend this peace to our families, societies, country and the world at large? Lord, make us instruments of your peace.
LET US PRAY: Lord God, in the midst of the chaos, tribulations, hatred, betrayals, greed, violence, banditry and kidnapping in our world today, grant we pray the grace to be true instruments of your peace in our homes, societies, country and the world at large, so that our world may be restored back to its original harmony and the face of the earth be renewed. This we ask through Christ our Lord. Amen. Peace be with you.
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