Gospel: Jn 14:27-31
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JESUS said to his disciples: “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. You heard me tell you, ‘I am going away and I will come back to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father; for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you this before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe. I will no longer speak much with you, for the ruler of the world is coming. He has no power over me, but the world must know that I love the Father and that I do just as the Father has commanded me.”
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Jesus greets his disciples with the traditional salutation of “Shalom,” but Jesus’ shalom is the assurance that God’s salvation is accomplished. The source of peace is the Father’s power already at work in Jesus’ resurrection and the abiding indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. Nothing can disturb Jesus, and no one who believes in Jesus will be perturbed by the sufferings of this world, by wars or conflicts or persecutions. This is the kind of peace that Paul holds on to dearly when he exclaims, “I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:38-39).
St. Teresa of Jesus says something similar: “Let nothing disturb you. Let nothing frighten you. All things are passing away: God never changes. Patience obtains all things. Whoever has God lacks nothing; God alone suffices.”
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SOURCE: “365 Days with the Lord 2020,” ST. PAULS Philippines, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 895-9701; Fax 895-7328; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.
