Mercy Brings Peace

20-11-2016 THIRTY-FOURTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR (C). (SOLEMNITY OF CHRIST THE KING)

SCRIPTURAL READING:

2 Sam. 5:1-3
Ps 122:1-2.4-5 (R. cf. 1)
2 Col. 1:12-20; Accl; Mk 11:9b. 10a.
Gospel Lk 23:35-43

Preamble:

Dear friends please repeat these words after me;
Thank you Jesus for your word which I will receive at this hour,
Please Lord, make my heart a fertile soil for the reception of your word today
Holy Spirit, rekindle in me the fire of your love and may God’s word bear fruit in my life. Amen.

THEME: THE EUCHARIST: OUR SOURCE AND SUMMIT
TOPIC: MERCY BRINGS PEACE

Whenever we approach the confessional to ask for pardon of our sins, we experience inner freedom from the burden of sin and avail ourselves the renewed opportunity of experiencing peace once again.

Beloved in Christ, peace is a gift of God and when we are in peace it speaks of the presence of God. Peace flows from the mercy of God. Our God is a merciful God who wills that none should perish but may come to eternal life. Therefore, God’s will for each man or woman is to stay in peace, remain in peace, be at peace and dwell in peace.

This peace that the Lord gives us flows from the table of the Lord-the Eucharistic Banquet. This kind of peace that the Lord gives to us is not what money can buy, or what we can get materially, or what someone (human being) can give us, rather it is that rich treasure which the Lord gives and he gives it to those who draw close to him.

For us as Catholic Christians that is the gift we receive each time we partake worthily at the table of the Lord. We must never allow the distractions of our day keep us from partaking in it. The distraction of sin denies and keeps us in fervent distance from the Lord. At this table, the Lord is so near to us, he is waiting for us. We must not leave him waiting in vain!

We must not through distraction and lethargy, pass by the greatest and most important thing life offers us. We should let ourselves be reminded of his constant presence and closeness to us. We must not pass it heedlessly by. Let us take time, in the course of each day to participate in the sacrifice of the Holy Mass with enthusiasm and spend quality time with him who can give us great peace; at the table of the Eucharist, the lord is always calling us and inviting us in. This is what is lovely about Catholic Churches that within them there is, as it were, always worship, because the Eucharistic presence of the Lord dwells always within them.

Participating actively at mass on Sundays which is the Lord’s Day is not a burden the church is laying upon us by asking us to attend Mass on Sunday; it is never a duty rather it is the royal privilege of the Christian to share in the paschal fellowship with the Lord, in the Paschal Mystery. The Lord has made the first day of the week his own day, on which he comes to us, on which he spreads the table for us and invites us to share with him.

The Israelites, who are considered as the chosen race, saw in the presence of God, not a burden, but the basis of their pride and their joy. And indeed the Sunday fellowship with the Lord is not a burden, but a grace, a gift which lights up the whole week, and we would be cheating ourselves if we withdrew from it.

The statement contained in Deut. 4:7 “what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him?” has its full meaning in the Eucharistic presence of the Lord. The Lord is near us in our conscience, in his word, in his personal presence in the Eucharist: this makes up the dignity of the Christian and is the reason for his joy.

We rejoice therefore, and this joy is expressed in praising God. Today we can see how the closeness of the Lord also brings people together and brings them close to each other in the act of common worship, praising God and going all out to proclaim Christ as the King of the Universe.

The gesture of today’s celebration means that at this time, as in right now, we are meeting together around the Lord, standing before the Lord, for the Lord and thus standing side by side together. There is also the walking with the Lord-the procession.

And finally there is the heart and the climax of it, kneeling before the Lord, the adoration, glorifying him and rejoicing in his presence. So we say that standing before the Lord, walking with the Lord, and kneeling before the Lord are the three principal elements of today’s celebration and this makes for peace and joy in our hearts.

Today’s procession is not just walking to the Lord, to the Eucharistic celebration; it is walking with the Lord; it is itself an element of Eucharistic celebration, one dimension of the Eucharistic event. The Lord who has become our bread is thus showing us the way, is in fact our way, as he leads us.

In fact today’s celebration pictures for us the exodus experience of the children of Israel wandering in the wilderness. Israel travels through the wilderness. And it is able to find a path in the pathless wilderness, because the Lord is leading it in the guise of cloud and of light. It can live in the pathless and lifeless wilderness because man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

And so in this story of Israel’s journey through the wilderness the underlying meaning of all human history is revealed. This Israel was able to find a country and was able to survive after the loss of that country because it did not live from bread alone, but found in the word the strength to live on through all the pathless and homeless wilderness of the centuries.

This is a perfect example for us today. We can only find our way if we let ourselves be led by him who is word and bread in one. He is the reason for the celebration today. We can find him only if we follow him in love.

Jesus says in John 14:15-17 “If you love me, you will obey my commandments. I will ask the father, and he will give you another helper, who will stay with you forever. He is the spirit who reveals the truth about God. The world cannot receive him, because it cannot see him or know him. But you know him, because he remains with you and is in you.”

Peace comes to us when we do the will of God. No one searches for the Lord aimlessly. There must be a purpose. The purpose must be to do his will so that the Lord may show us his mercy anew.

The mercy of the Lord cannot come to us folding our hands we must set out like the prodigal son who said in Luke 15:18-19 “I will get up and go to my father and say, Father; I have sinned against God and against you. I am no longer fit to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired workers. So he got up and started back to his father.”

Beloved, we too like the prodigal son must set out, this setting out is a journey toward God that he may show us his mercy.

The book of the prophet Jeremiah 29:12-14 says

“Then you will call to me. You will come and pray to me, and I will answer you. You will seek me, and you will find me because you will seek me with all your heart.

Yes, I say, you will find me, and I will restore you to your land. I will gather you from every place to which I have scattered you, and I will bring you back to the land from which I had sent you away into exile. I, the Lord, have spoken.”

Setting out is an attitude of faith the Lord expects of us each time we come into his presence. This setting out is first and foremost the attitude of God who as the Good Shepherd, in His great mercy, takes humanity upon himself, His eyes are merged with those of man by gradually bringing man out of the pit of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. In this event, Christ sees with the eyes of Adam, and Adam too sees with the eyes of Christ.

Each person discovers in Christ, the new Adam, his or her own humanity and the future that lies ahead. This is the beginning of peace.

The peace that the Lord gives brings with it, contentment, inner joy and satisfaction, there would be wholeness, togetherness, power and grace. The world does not and cannot experience this because it seeks after its own ways and not the ways of the Lord. We live in a world filled with disobedience, lack of tolerance and mercy, jealousy, malice, hatred, anger, bitterness, resentments, envy and other negative things that come with it when one stays away from God.

We lack peace today because we are so very disobedient of the commandments of the Lord. We make our own decrees and commandments. How can we have peace when we prefer our own ways instead of God’s ways?

Peace means to bind together, to join, to weave together. It means that a person is bound, woven, and joined together with himself and with God and others. Peace in Hebrew means SHALOM. It means freedom from trouble and much more. It means experiencing the highest good, enjoying the very best, possessing all the inner good possible. It means wholeness and soundness. It means prosperity in the widest sense especially prosperity in the spiritual sense of having a soul that blossoms and flourishes.

Peace comes as a result of close intimacy with God. It is the peace of the highest good. It is the peace that settles the mind, strengthens the will and establishes the heart.
Peace always is born out of reconciliation. It’s source is found only in the reconciliation brought by Jesus Christ. Peace always has to do with personal relationships: a man’s relationship to himself, to God, and to his fellow men. A man must be bound, woven and joined together with himself, with God, and with his fellow man.

The following are ways of attaining peace:

• By Justification: Rom. 5:1 “therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
• By Loving God’s Word: Psalm 119:165 says-great peace have they who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble.
• By praying about everything? Phil. 4:6-7 “DO not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
• By being Spiritually Minded: Rom. 8:6 “the mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the spirit is life and peace.”
• By keeping one’s mind upon God: Isaiah 26:3 “you will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.”
• By keeping God’s Commandments: Isaiah 48:18 says “If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your righteousness like the waves of the sea.”

Beloved as we officially end the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy called by Pope Francis, the Lord is calling us to reconciliation. This reconciliation can only be achieved by withholding anger and offering mercy. We must strive daily to maintain the peace the Lord has bestowed upon us especially with the activities of the Jubilee Year of Mercy and our harvest which has a special relationship because of the theme “Mercy.”