November 22, 2018
Thursday, 33rd Week in Ordinary Time
1st Reading: Rv 5:1-10 Gospel: Lk. 19:41-44
When Jesus had come in sight of Jerusalem, he wept over it and said, “If only today you knew the ways of peace! But now your eyes are held from seeing. Yet days will come upon you when your enemies will surround you with barricades and shut you in and press on you fromevery side. And they will dash you to the ground and your childrenwith you, and leave not a stone within you, for you did not recognize the time and the visitation of your God.
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
How was Jesus understood when he talked about peace? This question requires a revisit of the comprehension of “salom”, the Hebrew word for peace. The cognate verb for “salom” refers to acts of finishing or completing. To the Hebrews then, peace was understood as completeness, perfection, or a condition in which nothing is lacking. Thus when Jesus was talking about the peace that the world could not give, his listeners understood him to be talking about the peace only Yahweh could give, since only Him, and not the world, could provide for a condition of perfection where nothing is lacking (Psalm 35:27).” The Church in modern times has identified four factors leading to peace. In St. John XXIII’s Encyclical entitled “Pacem in Terris”, peace is attained through truth, justice, love and freedom. First let’s talk about Truth. Truth is not always achieved by the absence of falsity. Let us illustrate. A person who asserts ownership over a piece of property titled in his name commits no falsity. Yet truth is still wanting until he considers that his ownership over that piece of land is not absolutein the light of the Christian concept of stewardship.
Now let’s talk about Justice, Love and Freedom. Justice cannot stand apart from love because in the mind of God, justice must be tempered with love. Neither will justice result to peace if the commandment of love is violated in the process. Freedom, on the other hand is something internal. A woman who pays all her debts from money gained through prostitution may achieve external freedom but condemns her inner self to perpetual bondage. To what avail is attaining physical freedom while condemning the soul to perpetual slavery in the process?
The foregoing impress upon our minds that peace is really hard to attain. But it is not impossible to achieve. Since “Yahweh desires the peace of those who serve him (Psalm 35:27),” we only need to cling to Him and work for peace in His grace. Then we shall have perfect peace – the perfect kind that the world could not give. – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., D.M. Email: [email protected].
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