and exhorted them to persevere in the faith, saying,
"It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships
to enter the Kingdom of God."
In today’s Mass, Jesus assures us of peace, but “not as the world gives.” So often we pray for peace without knowing what we ask, and not prepared to pay the cost.
When I was at university during the late sixties and early seventies, the United States was entrenched in the Vietnam conflict. This was the war my generation inherited, and many of us could not understand why we should claim it. Vietnam is on a peninsula, stretching from Asia into the South China Sea. It seemed the dominoes ran out at the end of that peninsula. What did that unhappy little country have to do with me?
The United States was awash in prosperity. Schools were growing; business, expanding; civil rights, marching; and technologies, erupting like mushrooms all around us. Change was happening. In those heady days even “third world’ nations prospered. We heard the anguished cry of Pope Paul VI to the United Nations, “No more war! Never again war!” and we hoped Peace might be attained. It was almost within reach, if we would only stretch out our arms and welcome it.
The Boomer Generation did not know our consumptive habits would sabotage every peaceful effort. The music we bought; the clothes we wore; the drugs we sniffed and snorted; the excess we assumed should be ours: these would preempt every possibility of peace.
Nine centuries ago Saint Francis modeled peace to the people of his time. He did that by taking up the life he found in the Acts of the Apostles: communal, prayerful, poor and itinerant. The apostolic church claimed ownership of nothing; they had no time for that. In today’s reading we hear of Saint Paul’s visit to nine different towns and cities. Like Jesus, Paul and his entourage were on the move. Their sole possession, carried from place to place, was the gospel. That was their bread and meat, clothing and gear, security and peace.
Not many are called to the itinerant way of life, but the gospel teaches us to live lightly in this world. You never saw a moving van or an armored truck following a hearse. Our only real treasure is the gospel. We cannot imagine how we might find this peace. It dwells in an uncharted territory of our hearts. But Jesus will lead us there if we will go with him.
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.