Peace Be With Us

Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time C
July 8, 2007
Isaiah 66:10-14c
Psalm 66:1-3, 4-5, 6-7, 16, 20
Galatians 6:14-18
Luke 10:1-12, 17-20 or 10:1-9

Introduction
When I was a student in the Philippines, I remember a friend of mine who was only a deacon then, telling me that when priest is delivering a sermon he must have a bible at his right hand and a newspaper at his left hand. It took me a while before I could undertand what he meant.

Well, I guess what he was trying to explain me is that a priest must reflect on the Word of God and try to see its message or significance on what is happening in our present time.

As I was reflecting on the Sunday readings I was particularly struck by the aspect of peace. So I tried to see how the scripture's aspect of peace be relevant in today's time. So I looked up the latest news in our newspapers:

Herald Sun: there are at least fifteen reports about crime and violence: hit and run, terrorism, robbery, rape charges, tax scam.

The Age: violent machete attack at St Albans on Friday night in which eight people were injured.
Philippine Daily Inquirer (one of the leading newspapers in the Philippines): updates about Fr Giancarlo Bossi an Italian missionary, who was kidnapped by some terrorists group in southern Philippines.

New York Times: US military special operations against Al Queda.

This is the world we live in today.
Someone says, “Even if one just limits his reading to newspaper headlines this week, it will not take him more than a minute to conclude that this is not a peaceful world.”

The world is still longing for peace. How can we achieve peace?

In today's First Reading (Isa 66:10-14c), prophet Isaiah speaks of peace that God will bestow on His people who suffered strife, defeat and humiliation. But what is peace? For the prophet Isaiah, peace is not merely the absence of war. One does not create a desert and call it peace. Using the image of the new Jerusalem as a mother who consoles the returning exiles at her breasts and cradles them on her lap, the prophet describes peace in terms of experiencing comfort, spreading prosperity over the land, and all inhabitants being joyful in mind and heart. Isaiah uses a beautiful image of wholeness and integrity, the right relationship between the people and God, to describe peace.

In the second reading St Paul gives his readers a blessing of peace and mercy, that the believers may be re-created into existence of a new life with Christ.
But what does the Gospel wish to teach us about peace? Jesus his sending his 72 disciples to bring peace (or shalom in Hebrew word), to people, not only in our individual lives, but also in our community, in the nation and in the world.
Jesus instructs: "On entering any house, first say, 'Peace to this house'. If there is a peaceable man there, your peace will rest on him" ( Luke 10:5-6). What Jesus meant here is not a simple greeting that one gives to people he meets on the way, but an announcement of the peace that the salvation of Jesus brings.

Traditionally, this Gospel has been used to talk about vocations to the priestly and religious life. We take time today acknowledge the many missionaries who have come to do their mission to different countries to spread the peace of our Lord. We remember them with gratitude for leaving their loved ones, for braving deprivation, loneliness and even persecution for the sake of the Gospel.

At the back of envelope which we use to support missionaries we have a concrete story of Sr Dorothy Stand who was a victim of violence as she work for peace.
While the Gospel today can be applied specifically to labourers in the harvest as missionaries, priests and religious, the Gospel message applies to us all. Actually these 72 disciples represent all of us in our different vocations.

Jesus needs men and women to spread his message of peace. Peace always involves relationships within families, communities and between peoples; it is always about their unity and harmony. If Jesus gave his peace to his disciples, (cf John 14:27), his disciples must bring it to others. As spouses, parents, teachers, priests, friends, students, political or civic leaders, we open the way for others to meet God, and experience and bring forth the peace of Christ.

We, Christians must be peace-bearers. We are to be vehicles of peace for it is only through the communities of disciples that real peace come upon earth. We have to be involved in the peace process. The process of peace begins with reconciliation first with God by asking forgiveness, then by making peace with our loved ones, our family, and friends, then extending to our wider community. For peacemaking is not an optional commitment but it is a requirement of our faith as Christians.

Let us pray therefore in the Mass, that peace that only Jesus can give will be present in our hearts, in our family and community and we will be more aware that the Kingdom of God is at hand.

St Saint Francis of Assisi wrote a beautiful prayer of peace, let us end our reflection with his prayer:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.Where there is hatred, let me sow love;where there is injury,pardon;where there is doubt, faith;where there is despair, hope;where there is darkness, light;and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seekto be consoled as to console;to be understood as to understand;to be loved as to love.For it is in giving that we receive;it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen