DAILY HOMILIES #Peace

There is an extent that our pursuit of justice becomes a vice. Sometimes, it is best to shift ground. What will it profit you if you destroy the whole world just to prove you are right? Be like Jesus; allow peace to reign.

We live in a troubled world. Just glimpse at the pages of our newspapers. Go online to see what is trending in our nation or even around the world, and you cannot but agree that humanity is troubled. Jesus perfectly understands our troubled situation and seeks to console us. Last Sunday, we heard Jesus say: “I shall not be with you much longer… I give you a new commandment, love one another just as I have loved you.” (John 13:33-35). Jesus makes us understand that if we love one another as he loved us, our world would be less troubled. Today, Jesus says to us: “Peace I give to you; not as the world gives… let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” (John 14:27). While we face troubles from the world around us in the form of persecution, injustice, and hatred by those who do not know God, let us bear in mind that the peace of Jesus is not of this world. It is a peace that comes with knowing that we are just pilgrims on our way home.

How can we possibly accept the many tribulations that are part of the road to heaven? The only solution is for us to have this inner peace. Peace of mind is such a vital ingredient for us to move successfully on this road to heaven. When we have this peace, nothing is difficult for us.

When we go for confession, God so forgives our sins and washes us that we can confidently say we become new creatures. God does not remember our sins because the moment we offload them at the confessional, our old self dies and we leave as newborn babies. Just as you cannot accuse a newborn baby of sin, God no longer accuses us of the sins that we have dropped at the confessional. Never be too shy to go to confession; it is not the priest who forgives us but Jesus Christ himself who gave the priest the power to retain or absolve sins in His name.

Like one lost in a strange land, the Israelites were really lost when they found themselves in the middle of nowhere in the desert. When God gave these commandments, he actually provided a map; a map towards achieving wisdom, joy, enlightenment, and long life.

The peace Jesus gives us is not the peace of material comfort but a peace that makes us happy even in poverty. Jesus says: “Foxes have holes, birds of the air have nests but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” (Luke 9:58). In truth, only in God can we find rest for our troubled hearts.

Jesus cured a demoniac but in the process, the villagers lost their entire herd of swine. The size of their economic loss was so huge that they failed to notice that a man had been set free from demon-possession.

Sunday 10th May 2020. Acts 6:1-11, Psalm 33, 1st Peter 2:4-9 and John 14:1-12 “Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me… And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (John 14:1-3).