May 25th, 2025
Sixth Sunday of Easter
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/052525.cfm
Acts 15:1-2, 22-29 Psalm 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8
Revelation 21:10-14, 22-23 John 14:23-29
Cardinal Robert Sarah wrote in his book God or Nothing: A Conversation on Faith:
Man is not born to manage his bank account; he is born to find God and to love his neighbor.
When we do find God, we have peace, an inner peace that isn’t affected by the negative things going on around us. This is the peace that Jesus offers his followers in today’s Gospel as he tells them:
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.
The world tries so desperately to take away this peace. This isn’t anything new, as our reading from Acts describes the letter the Apostles sent to Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia:
Since we have heard that some of our number who went out without any mandate from us have upset you with their teachings and disturbed your peace of mind…
The church was young, and they were still trying to decide which things from the Jewish law were necessary. Some were upsetting the Gentiles by telling them they must be circumcised or they cannot be saved. They held, what we call today, the Jerusalem Council and wrote a letter to set things straight:
‘It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and of us not to place on you any burden beyond these necessities, namely, to abstain from meat sacrificed to idols, from blood, from meats of strangled animals, and from unlawful marriage. If you keep free of these, you will be doing what is right.
I love how the decision was made by them AND the Holy Spirit. Sometimes we, too, can get hung up on what we perceive as the rules. The Pharisees were experts at this. They had the Prince of Peace right there in front of them, but because of their fixation with the rules and laws, they couldn’t see the Messiah because of the laws they perceived that Jesus was breaking!
Today, we are blessed to have the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, to help us. The Holy Spirit is intimately connected with peace, and peace is even one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit, along with love, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. This peace is a gift that overpowers the world around us. It is a peace found in being in line with, and in tune with, God and trusting His power and grace. The peace the world offers is fragile and easily stolen away from us. Jesus' peace is a deep presence that stays with us, even in difficulty.
In today’s Gospel Jesus gives us the fast recipe for lasting peace:
Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.
Jesus also tells us how to lose that peace:
Whoever does not love me does not keep my words
We definitely should love Jesus and keep his words!
The Catechism of the Catholic Church also offers help with keeping our peace in paragraph 2304:
Peace cannot be attained on earth without safeguarding the goods of persons, free communication among men, respect for the dignity of persons and peoples, and the assiduous practice of fraternity. Peace is "the tranquillity of order." Peace is the work of justice and the effect of charity.
This week, pray about what causes you to lose your peace. It could be a tragedy in life, a troubling situation in your family or at work, even something as simple as traffic, lots of rain, and a lack of sunny, warm weather, or losing your favorite fishing lure in a tree. Whatever it may be, ask the Holy Spirit to pinpoint the destroyer of peace in your life and then ask the Holy Spirit to strengthen you so that even when those struggles do appear, your inner peace, along with your trust in God, stays.
St. Francis de Sales tells us:
Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever, not even if your whole world seems upset. If you find that you have wandered away from the shelter of God, lead your heart back to Him quietly and simply.
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