The peace that Jesus brings begins and ends with love.

 

Sixth Sunday of Easter C  2025

 

The final wishes or words of a loved one near death have a way of remaining with us.   Powerful words between the dying and the living is a sacred moment.   I can think of a parishioner whose last words to his wife were: “I love you.”  His last words to me were: “I am ready to go home to God.”  These beautiful last words of this parishioner are seared in my memory.

The Gospel today are the last words of Jesus as he spoke to his disciples at the Last Supper on the night before he died.  This is Jesus’ going away conversation with his disciples.  Listen again to the last words of Jesus to His disciples: “The Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I have said to you.  Peace, I leave with you; my peace I give to you.”

Have you ever thought about the gift you would pass to your loved ones?  Many of us have a will in which we carefully think what to do with your assets after your death.  It goes without saying that it is a good idea to have a will.  But when we think about a will, we usually think about our material assets and who gets what.  Today’s Gospel is taken from the last will and testament of Jesus in His conversation with his apostles.

The farewell gift of Jesus was a not a bequest of his earthly goods.  It was a gift far more important.

Jesus is departing from this earth and, as every dying person, wishes to reveal a gift.    Jesus names peace as what he wants to leave.  He immediately specifies it as my peace.  It is not like the peace of this world.   Whenever everything is going well, we can manage a certain amount of inner calm.  However, when bad times come, calm is replaced by anxiety and fear.  We shake with the wind, vacillate with the circumstances.

Peace is a complicated word with many interpretations.  We deploy our well-equipped military around the world as peacekeepers.  Some people passionately fight for uncontrolled gun ownership which they believe will ensure peace.  Yet despite all of our energy and resources we put into protecting ourselves, we still are not at peace.

 Perhaps we are looking for peace in the wrong places.  Jesus urges, “Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.”  His words refocus us to the question.  “What needs to happen in our hearts so that we can find peace?”  The peace that Jesus brings begins and ends with love. 

Tensions in families are often unavoidable.  However, which is more likely to bring reassuring healing to this friction – anger and revenge, or compassion and forgiveness?   Turbulence in the stock markets can leave us greedily scrambling for an economic advantage, or we can humbly trust God to provide for our needs.

Stress can keep us up at night, damage our health and suck the joy out of life.  But what if we enjoyed the peace that only God can give, and it is a peace that is rooted in the conviction that nothing can separate us from the love of God.  This non-abandoning presence of Good is revealed in the cross of Christ and is the source of our inner peace.

What is the peace that Jesus brings?  With hectic schedules, where time for family, friends, work, study, errands – and relaxation – must be planned for each day, we look for ways to simplify our lifestyles to find some peace.  Banks and investment services offer any number of services to manage our money so that we can have “peace of mind.”

The peace Jesus gives is not imposed but given as a gift, not just a brief vacation but a centering peace in which Jesus says to his disciples: “Do not let your hearts be troubled.”

We today live in the same space that Jesus was speaking with his disciples.  The Lord does not leave us orphans.  Rather he sends the Holy Spirit to be with us all our days.  The inner gift of peace is the Lord’s lasting legacy to us

But the peace that is Jesus’s gift for us can only be given birth by living the Gospel.  A beautiful example of the Christian dream of peace can be seen in the first Scripture reading taken from the Acts of the Apostle about life in the early Christian community.  The Church worked out a new peace through disagreement.  Each side was given a chance to represent its position and each side was listened to.  In the end, each side also gave up some of its demands, so that a new consensus emerged.  Christians, it was decided, need not follow all Jewish customs (like circumcision) but they need to follow some which were considered essential.  Disagreement was not crushed or avoided but acknowledged, and people of good will were led to a compromise.

Let us pray for a deep trust in God’s promise of peace and strive in our way to see it a reality.

There is both blessing and responsibility in Christ’s love.  Jesus unconditionally gives us His love so we can know and grow in love.  The gift we have been given is meant to be shared so that others can know and grow in peace.  Where and how are you as a Christian being called to share your love and promote the peace of Christ in our world today?

For us at the parish community of St. Joseph’s, we seek at all times to be guided by the wisdom of the Holy Spirit.  Like the first Christian communities from the accounts in the Acts of the Apostles, all need to be able to express their convictions; we need to listen to one another;  decisions need to be made under the guidance of the Holy Spirit; and, most of all, we need to embrace the peace that only God can give and share our love with one another.

 

Have a Blessed Day.

 

 

 

 

 

Pope Leo calls us to build bridges and to dialogue with love.

 

FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER C 2025

 

 

Today we celebrate the Fourth Sunday of the Easter Season - Good Shepherd Sunday.  We are invited to listen to the voice of the Good Shepherd. 

 

We celebrate and pray for our new Holy Father – Pope Leo XIV.  An American from Chicago; an Augustinian priest in fact he became the superior general of the Augustinians; a missionary to Peru where he became bishop; a Vatican official in charge of the appointment of bishops for Pope Francis.

 

As Pope, we look forward to Pope Leo being the Good Shepherd of our Church in the footsteps of Jesus himself.

 

In the Pope’s first words to us:  “We have to seek together to be a missionary Church.  He called the Church to build bridges and to dialogue with love.  To show charity to all.”

 

From the Gospel:  Jesus said: “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.”

 

The Shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.  The sheep follow him because they do not follow the voice of a stranger.

 

What are the voices in your life in which you are safe and very much loved?  How well do we recognize the voice of Jesus in our life?

 

Today we celebrate Mother’s Day, and we ask God’s many blessings to be with our mothers.  As we think of the voices in our lives in which we feel safe and very much loved.  We think of our mother’s love.  Who is the first person that spoke to you the words: “I love you.”  For me, those words were first spoken to me by my mom. 

 

On the day of my ordination to the priesthood, it was my mother’s faith and love for me that revealed the face of God’s love in a privileged way.

 

May be ever thankful for the people in our lives who help to recognize the voice of God in our lives.

 

Who in your family speaks words of unconditional love to you?  Who in our faith community speaks words to you to assure you that you are safe and very much loved?  Who is the first person who spoke to you the words: “I love you?”  Who is the last person to say those words to you?  When was the last time you spoke the words “I love you” to someone?

 

The challenge for all of us is that we live in a time and in a society in which there are many voices that demand our attention. We hear them all the time, from our first conscious moment till the day we die.  Voices hurt us, heal us, form our self-concept, encourage or diminish us.   What voices do our youth listen to in the video games and the music and the culture that fantasizes and celebrates violence in all forms of our media?

 

There are voices from Wall Street that demand our attention as we seek financial security for our lives.  There are voices of Broadway that seek to entertain us in so many ways.  Sometimes positively, other times not so much.  There are voices from our smart phone that continuously demand our attention.

 

What would it take for the voice of the Good Shepherd to be the dominant voice that we hear in our hearts?   Perhaps Jesus could hire a better advertising firm?  An improved website?  More money?  Surely, it is much deeper than that.  There is a critical need for moral leadership in our society and in our church. We need to be able to hear the stirrings of God’s love that is within – our inner voice.

 

For the voice of the Good Shepherd to be our dominant voice, we need to tap into the inner resources of the mystery of God’s love that is within each one of us.  There is a longing in the hearts of each of us to hear and to know the voice of the Good Shepherd.

 

A major question for you and for me is are we able to quiet ourselves down each day in prayer to listen to the voice of the Good Shepherd that is within us?

 

Today is the World Day of Prayer for Vocations.  Vocation comes from the Latin word vocare “to call.”  Our vocation is our response to the call of God in our lives.  By Baptism, God calls us to be disciples, to be witnesses of His presence in our world.  All of us have a vocational story to share.  Your vocational story is to be found in the way you share the giftedness you have been given in relationships, in the work, and in the ways you live your life.  Your vocational story is your continuous response to God’s call.  To be aware of your vocation is to be aware of the voice of God in your life on this day.

 

In the context of celebrating all the ways we hear and respond to the voice of the Good Shepherd in our lives, may we encourage, may we pray that some of the young men from our faith community will consider the call of God to the ordained priesthood.   For me, the vocation of my ministry as a priest has been a source of grace, considerable joy, and a wonderful opportunity to make a difference in people’s lives.  It has given me the opportunity to get to know you and for us together to celebrate the mystery of God’s love in our midst.  Without any doubt, the Church needs people to respond to the call to the ordained ministry as a deacon and as a priest. 

 

As we know in the life of our parish community, we also need men and women to respond to the call of lay ecclesial ministry.  We are blessed by the generosity of our lay ecclesial ministers.

 

Each of us is called to lead others to the gracious mercy of God.  Like the Good Shepherd, we do not do this by herding or forcing people along.  We seek to live lives of such self-evident joy that others can trust that we are leading them in the path of life eternal.

 

Jesus, our Good Shepherd, give us the grace to gently lead others to become more aware of our love and of God’s love.

 

As we continue the Eucharist, where the Good Shepherd feeds us with His Body and Blood, let us pray for the grace to know Him more deeply, to trust Him more fully, and to love others more generously.

 

Have a Blessed Day.