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1. Acts
4:32-35
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2. 1Jn5:1-6
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Gospel: 20:19-31
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PEACE BE WITH YOU
In today's gospel,
Jesus said: "Peace be with you,"( vv 19:11, 26) for three times. Why
did He say it so for three times? Did He forget what they did to Him during His
hours of need? After all those things they have done to Him, yet He was able to
say, " Peace be with you." Reflecting what happened to Jesus during
His passion we can see that Peter denied Him for three times, after the people
had shouted at Him, 'crucify Him; after the disciples had fled away and
abandoned Him; yet He just said to them, ' Peace be with you' If it was on our
part, humanly speaking we would have said that, is Jesus out of His mind? what
an absurd person!
That is the nature of
Jesus, a forgiving and loving person especially towards His enemies and that is
our nature too, to forgive and love the person who hurts us. Yes it is hurting that we are the losers
already and yet we are the one asking for forgiveness. Yet that is our nature
to forgive and forget.
We should understand
the following about peace. Sometimes when we are asked what do we mean by
peace. Majority of us some possible answers we may have immediately is : "
Peace is the absence of war." If browse on Google some possible answers
about peace would be: " Peace is
the state of quiet or tranquility, freedom from disturbance or agitation,
calmness, absence or cessation of war."
Surely peace includes
the absence of war, however, the absence of war does not necessarily mean
peace. Others mean peace as if they don't
have enemies and don't return back or take vengeance but within their
hearts desire for revenge is very much alive. This could not be peace.
In Hebrew, the word
peace is shalom, taken from the root word slam which basically mean, " to
be safe." When you say, " Shalom", you are wishing that person
health, prosperity, security, political and spiritual well being, absence of
war and also it connects salvation.
During the mass when
the priest greets the faithful with these words, " Peace be with you"
and the faithful respond, " and with your spirit." In that sense you
are wishing the person the same things that I have just said above in my
sharing. The Latin equivalent is pax and also the Greek equivalent is Eirene
which basically mean the same as with Shalom. Thus when we say peace be with
you we have to mean it and not otherwise. Let us ask ourselves what gives me
inner peace? What makes me happy? Do I practice my kindness and generosity to
my fellow human being?
0 Response to "HOMILY FOR THE 2nd SUNDAY OF EASTER IN YEAR B"
Chapisha Maoni