WORD 2day: The peace of the Lord

Tuesday, V week of Easter: 5th May,  2015
Acts 14: 19-28; Jn 14: 27-31a

Peace. ...the gift of the Risen Lord.  Peace would mean lack of conflicts and an absence of turbulence, in ordinary terms. But Jesus seems very particular that the peace that the Lord gives us is not the same as the peace that the world thinks.

It is not lack of conflicts but it is a victory over all conflicts, inner,  societal and universal! It is not an absence of turbulence but a transcending of all turbulence, a rising above all disturbance and a resolution of all crisis not an absence of them. We see this clearly in the lives of Paul,  Barnabas and other apostles who seem to perfectly understand the peace of the Lord. One trouble over, they were up for the next. Their peace was in the Lord and nothing could stop them from making it their own. Amidst all the turbulence, disturbance and crisis they enjoyed a peace and serenity that no one even comprehended.

Do you dare pray for that peace,  the peace of the Lord?

WORD 2day : The Next Phase

Monday, V week of Easter: 4th May, 2015

Acts 14: 5-18 ; Jn 14: 21-24

Jesus initiates the next phase... he promises his Spirit who will reside in our hearts and instruct us of the right thing to be done at the right time. The Spirit of truth and counsel, the Spirit of strength and determination. It is the Spirit that makes them so strong and powerful that Paul and Barnabas were considered to be like gods.

This is a reminder of what Jesus promised us in yesterday's Gospel: the one who believes in me will do all that I do, and even more than that! The Holy Father in his letter Evangelium Gaudium speaks of Spirit-filled Evangelisers... that is what the Lord wants us to become,  in and through our daily life,  within our families and wherever we are!