Homily for May 1, 2018.
“Peace I
leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to
you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” John 14:27.
Going
through today’s readings, one would find it difficult to reconcile the promise
of peace Jesus talks about in our Gospel passage with the painful experience of
Paul who was stoned and left for dead in our first reading. Since the early
days of Christianity, the Christian has always been an endangered species,
hated and persecuted from all sides yet Jesus said: “Peace I leave with you…”
What type
of peace is Jesus talking about when he categorically stated that those who
must follow him must first deny themselves, carry their cross and come after
him. Can we be peaceful under the weight of the cross? Can we be at peace when
we have to suffer all kinds of humiliations, attacks, betrayal, back-stabbing
even from our fellow Christian brothers and sisters?
What kind
of peace can we possibly get that would silence the pain of a heart troubled
from all sides by economic hardship, insecurity, bad governance and less hope
for the future? Can a father or a mother prevent himself or herself from being
troubled when they do not know where their next meal would come from to feed
their children? Can we prevent ourselves from being afraid when there is so
much injustice in the land; the guilty walk free and the innocent are silenced?
Dear
friends in Christ, if we interpret the peace of Christ with the same
understanding of peace as world defines it, we run the risk of getting
disappointed with God very quickly. No wonder Jesus added that important
phrase: “not as the world gives to I give you.”
The peace
of Christ is not one that prevents us from troubles, rather it is a peace that
gives us confidence to walk through the “valley of the shadow of death fearing
no evil.” it is not a peace that takes away the pains, hurts and persecutions
of others but one that enables us to forgive readily and completely like Jesus did
on the Cross of Calvary. It is the peace that would ginger Paul to continue the
same mission for which he was stoned, dragged out of the city and left for
dead.
It is not
the peace of material comfort or physical security but a peace that makes us
happy even in our poverty and lack as Jesus would say: “Foxes have holes, birds
of the air have nests but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” Luke 9:58.
This peace is not the peace we get when we have soldiers guarding our gate or
sophisticated guns beside our bed even while we sleep, it is the peace of
turning the other cheek when one has been slapped; a peace of surrendering our
security to God alone.
This peace
is a strange peace and truly the world cannot understand it.
Today,
being the first day of May, when the world celebrates Workers’ Day, the church
earmarks this day to celebrate the Patron of Workers who is none other but St.
Joseph, the hard-working husband of Mary and foster father of Jesus. We
celebrate St. Joseph because he was identified as the Carpenter and from him,
Jesus learnt how to work to such an extent that his townsmen referred to him as
the son of the Carpenter.
We
celebrate this great man today who lived his life as a celibate despite his
marriage to Mary and went about his duties quietly and humbly so as to
highlight the Good News that work is not punishment but an opportunity given to
man to transform the world thereby cooperating with God in his ongoing
creation.
St. Joseph
teaches us that laziness is not the same thing as enjoyment; that he who does
not work should not eat; that there is dignity in labour; that if God himself
worked in the person of Jesus, we should never be ashamed to employ our
creativity and time in working.
Today we
pray for workers all over the world; especially workers whose rights and
dignity are supressed by the powerful; workers who are being unjustly denied of
their wages; workers who face harassment in their place of work; workers who
want to work but are searching for employment, some of whom have lost their
jobs and are now being tagged as lazy. May St. Joseph intercede for us all.
Amen
Let us
pray: Lord Jesus, may your peace remain with us always. Amen.
Happy New Month. Be Happy. Live Positive.
Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. (Tuesday of the 5th
Week of Easter, Optional Memorial of St. Joseph the Worker. Bible Study: Acts 4:19-28
and John 14:27-31).
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