BEING EASTER PEOPLE (2)

BEING EASTER PEOPLE (2)

BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD.

Be in your prayer space, follow the usual steps and settle into silence.

Sit still…..Relax…….Do not rush………

Take a couple of gentle, slow and deep breaths…becoming aware of your breath going in and out… stay focused on this breath of life……

Now from the depth of your heart begin to wish your mind well……….

Take a moment. Bless your day. Let your day Bless you……Take another moment. Bless your world. Let your world bless you……

Prayerfully, reflectively read the following……Dwell on the thoughts that speak to you in this moment……

We continue our meditation on being Easter People……Easter people must remember and bless themselves with the gifts of their master. The master’s farewell gift was “Peace” and his first gift on his return after the resurrection also was “Peace”. Today’s meditation is on this gift.

Jesus gave his disciples his farewell gift: PEACE. He said that this was not the kind of peace the world would give. It is enduring peace, lasting peace, eternal peace. The word for peace used in this context is “shalom” and shalom means “total Well-being”, “the highest good”, “that which befits God”. It is not the absence or the end of war or conflict. It is the presence of shalom, even in the midst of tension. This is the kind of peace, shalom that Jesus experienced in loving and fulfilling the Father’s will.

Peace I leave with you, My Peace I give unto you. Jn. 14:27

Blessed are the peacemakers. They will become sons of God. Mt. 5:9

On the evening of the first day of the week, when the doors were closed….Jesus stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you” (John 20:19)

Peace is God’s gift, the divine resource, as it were, waiting to be tapped into, experienced and enjoyed. The Peace that lives within empowers us to go on in hope, even when storms of life disrupt relationships, incredible tragedies happen, mega-companies lie and cheat the public, ministers of God sin and abuse their privileges and so on.

The Peace that lives within remains an ever renewable “wellspring of courage” because that Peace is of God and that peace is God himself.

“Seek what you seek, but not where you seek it. Your heart has been made for God and it shall be restless until it rests in Him”. (St. Augustine)

Remember……..Deep down in every man, woman, and child, is the fundamental truth of God, of the Sacred Presence, of Sacred Love, of Sacred peace. It may be obscured by many things, but it sure is there for us to touch, to feel, to experience, to celebrate – to dwell, to rest, to abide………

Let us re-call and re-member our earlier reflections on peace as the quality of our inner being, as a state of being in harmony with all, as an attitude that brings us into communion with God and all that is of God and from God……

In Hebrew, the word for Peace is “Shalom” and it does not refer to a negative state – it does not mean the absence of trouble. Peace – Shalom – always meant everything which constitutes the highest good of man, the total well-being of man.

In the east when one says to another, “Salaam”, or shalom, he does not mean that he wishes for the other person the absence of evil things – he wishes him the presence of good things.

In the Bible, Peace is not only the absence of or freedom from trouble – but the presence and enjoyment of all the good that is of God and from God.

The Peace that Jesus spoke of comes not from evasion of issues – it comes from facing them, dealing with them and conquering them.

The Peace that Jesus offers is not passive acceptance of things – but active, creative, dynamic facing them, dealing with them – the making of peace, even when the way of peace is a struggle.

Jesus said, Peace-makers will be called “Sons of God”, God-like persons, doing God-like work. The person who works for peace is engaged in the work which the God of peace is doing (Rom.15:33; 2Cor.13:11; I Thess.5:23).

Shalom, Peace means everything which constitutes the highest good of “man”. It means making the world a little better place to live in, lifting others a little more, lifting the world a little further.

“Die when I may, I would like it to be said of me that I always pulled up a weed and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow.” (Abraham Lincoln)

The Jewish Rabbis held that the highest task, which a man can perform, is to establish right relationship between man and man – peacemaking, the force that binds/unites – the force that brings harmony.

Peace is the most human dream of all….Peace was the dream of the Jews…….Peace was always the dream of Christians…Peace was the dream of all sages….. Peace is the dream of all religions…..humanity has a common good which belongs to all: Peace.

The dream of peace lives in the heart of humanity even when they are living within the most atrocious wars….Peace is hunger, a thirst, a passion……

A great Russian mystic, St. Seraphim of Sarov used to say: “acquire peace in you and thousands around you will find it”. We must never underestimate the force of that peace that comes from the heart!

If you want peace, be peaceful…..teach yourself to take a completely different approach, a gentle approach, a “peacefulness approach”.

If you want to experience peacefulness you must begin from a posture of peace. One word of caution: Be prepared to stay in that posture for as long as it takes.

My Prayer for you:

May you fearlessly dream, speak, stand and work for justice and peace!

May you make no peace with oppression, injustice, violence or war!

May you strive to be a shining witness of reconciliation, harmony and peace!

May you reach across boundaries and barriers to form community with all people!

May you be a peaceful person and may your presence bring peace!

And may God who has loved you without measure fill you with blessings and grace and the experience of joyful communion of the saints of God……..and be “peace” for all!

Take a moment and pray…

God grant me,

        The serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

        Courage to change the things I can,

        And the Wisdom to know the difference.

        Living one day at a time;

        Enjoying one moment at a time;

        Accepting hardship as the pathway to peace.

        Taking as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it;

        Trusting that He will make all things right,

        If I surrender to His will;

        That I may be reasonably happy in this life,

        And supremely happy in the next. (Reinhold Niebuhr)

If you find yourself in a situation where there are no peaceful persons, strive to be a peaceful person and if you find yourself in a situation where there are no peacemakers, strive to be a peacemaker.

Fr. Gus Tharappel,msfs