RECEIVING THE LORD'S PEACE

 


SAINT VINCENT FERRER, PRIEST   

Acts 14:19-28; Ps 145:10-13,21; Jn 14:27-31

Opening the Door for Eternal Peace

All our interaction with God is initiated by God. This is why we refer to God as the uncaused cause or unmoved mover of all things. As God, He is the initiator of every interaction and all interactions serve his purpose, for the first in everything sets the goal or purpose. Many of us do not usually give much thought to our relationship or interaction with God because of our over-engagement with the external world. We should develop the habit of meditating on our relationship and interactions with God. This is impossible for anyone in mortal sin or habituated to a sinful lifestyle. So, if the attempt ends in repeated failure, then it is an invitation to follow a process of conversion aided by sacramental confession. The inability to live an interior life means we are spiritually dead or too weak for any meaningful interaction with God. The Lord, through a priest, would restore our spiritual life and help us begin our spiritual journey. Such inability to engage in any spiritual activity is not caused by any deficiency on the side of God, but on the side of a soul. God’s interaction with a soul is constant and steady, for our mere existence is God’s interaction with us. Our existence is God’s holding, sustaining, and uplifting us. But the level or quality of our lives depends on our ability to receive and interact with God. The Son of Man declared that he came that we may have fullness of life. That is, to restore all our faculties needed to receive God and interact with Him.

His Incarnation was his presentation of the Father’s goodwill and constant interaction with us to our level of sensible existence. As we noted previously, Christ’s humanity was to attract us to the Father. In all who respond to this attraction, he begins the work of restoration on their lives. Starting from the restoration of physical lives, he progresses to the restoration of spiritual lives. He commenced the spiritual restoration in his disciples when he gave them his peace. “Peace, I bequeath to you, my own peace I give you, a peace the world cannot give, this is my gift to you.” This heavenly peace remains with the disciples because his words have purified them by reordering their lives to God. Without this reordering or cleansing from sin, which is disordered affections, they would be incapable of receiving his gift of peace. Thus prepared, the going of the Son of Man to the Father would invoke faith and a new spiritual life in them. In the same way, he comes as the spiritual life of each of us. Hence, the gift of his peace is a prelude to the gift of his life. “Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid. You heard me say: I am going away and shall return. If you loved me, you would have been glad to know that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.” His physical presence has attracted, organised, and prepared them for further reception of the Father’s interactions. The Father is greater than the Son because He is the origin of all interactions or gifts.

If our minds and hearts are duly or properly attracted to the Son of Man in love, then his going would surely bring us more benefits and heavenly gifts. The manner in which he goes to the Father causes the full measure of faith in us. “I have told you this now before it happens, so that when it does happen you may believe.” His riding the storm of darkness, death, and forces of evil to the Father demonstrates his divinity and love for the Father. His spiritual dwelling in us through faith enables us to ride the same storms back to the Father as Paul and Barnabas did as they proclaimed the Good News. “We all have to experience many hardships before we enter the kingdom of God.” Saint Vincent Ferrer had the gifts of deep faith, simplicity, and peace. He rode through the storms of this life and proclaimed the Gospel of Jesus Christ to many people and nations. He was born in Valencia in 1350 and joined the Dominicans at the age of 17. In 1399, the Pope approved his preaching mission. For twenty years, he travelled through western Europe, with thousands flocking to hear him wherever he preached. He converted about 25,000 Jews and thousands of Moors in the Kingdom of Granada. He died in Vannes in Brittany on 5 April 1419. The miracles he worked through the Holy Spirit were innumerable. “Your friends, O Lord, shall make known the glorious splendour of your reign.”

Let us pray: O God, who raised up the Priest Saint Vincent Ferrer to minister by the preaching of the Gospel, grant, we pray, that, when the Judge comes, whom Saint Vincent proclaimed on earth, we may be among those blessed to behold him reigning in heaven. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.      

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The offsprings of the Old man and the New Man

Image
Monday, fifth week of lent/2024 Reflection from Friar Nicholas Okeke, OP Offsprings of Old man and New Man To be able to live the new life within the new Covenant in Jesus Christ, the old life must come to an end. The distinctive difference between the old man and the new man is the focus of desires. The old man and all who live by him have their desires focussed on the satisfaction of self. On the other hand, the new man and those living by him desires only to fulfil God's holy will. Thus, the old man and his offspring obey the law of sin and death. Living for self alone breeds sins, and sin causes death. So, the old man and all living by him are dead and harbingers of death to others. They are adept at manipulating the Law of God to perpetuate their interest and selfish desires. An example of this skill is the treatment the two old judges of Israel in Babylon meted out to Susanna, wife of Joachim, employing the Law of Moses as given in the first reading. “Two elderly men had ...
Read more

CALLED TO KNOW AND PROCLAIM THE GOSPEL

Image
THE CONVERSION SAINT PAUL, APOSTLE Acts 22:3-16; Ps 117; Mk 16:15-18 Proclamation of the Gospel of the New Covenant Celebrating the feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul brings us to a deeper reflection on the meaning and implication of the new covenant in Jesus Christ. As Paul himself narrated in the first reading to his people in Jerusalem, he was so zealous in the practice of Judaism, the religion of his fathers, that his eyes were closed to the new realities and relations God had brought into existence. Though these new realities and relations were prophesied by the prophets and the Law pointed to them, Paul and many of his contemporaries were blind to them. His words are: “I am a Jew and was born at Tarsus in Cilicia. I was brought up here in this city. I studied under Gamaliel and was taught the exact observance of the Law of our ancestors. In fact, I was as full of duty towards God as you are today.” These words of Paul testify that zeal without the knowledge of the will o...
Read more

WE CANNOT ENTER INTO HEAVEN WITHOUT FAITH

Image
OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL Reflection from Friar Nicholas Okeke, OP  Isa 7:1-9; Ps 48:2-8; Mt 11:20-24 If you do not stand by Me, you will not stand at all The Lord Jesus Christ takes up the issue of rejecting or ignoring the Gospel message when it comes to us in the gospel reading today. The word of God contains all the blessings of heaven which God had given us in Christ before the beginning of the world. Hence, a rejection or refusal to accept or listen to the Gospel message is a rejection of all the heavenly blessings we have received in Jesus Christ. These divine blessings have import for our lives here on earth. While still dwelling here on earth, those who believe in the word of God already possess the heavenly inheritance God will fully manifest to us when we exit this mortal tent. By faith, we enter into the eternal kingdom and the promised inheritance. The importance of faith for our reception of the heavenly blessings here on earth is illustrated in the first reading...
Read more