November 20, 2014
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 andsaid, “If only today you knew the ways of peace! But now your eyes areheld from seeing. Yet days will come upon you when your enemies willsurround 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 recognizethe time and the visitation of your God.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the
Assimilated Life Experience)
How did the Jews understand Jesus when he talked about the way to peace? This question requires a revisit of the Hebrew understanding of the word “salom” (the word they used for peace). The cognate verb for “salom” was also used for acts of finishing and completing. To the Hebrews then, peace was also understood as completeness, perfection, or a condition in which nothing is lacking. This kind of peace, the world cannot not give (John 14:27).Only from Yahweh is this peace available, for “Yahweh desires the peace of those who serve him (Psalm 35:27).”
Under this concept of peace, Jesus was exercising a divine prerogative when in John 14:27 he offered peace to the world – the kind of peace which was not the perfection of the social order like the defeat of the Roman conquerors and the attainment of political freedom of Israel. It was inner peace, a fruit of spiritual mindedness (Romans 8:6).
The Church in modern times has identified four factors leading to peace. In St. John XXIII’s Pacem in Terris (Peace on Earth), peaceis attained through truth, justice, love and freedom. Truth does not always mean the absence of falsehood. Let’s take for example the case of a person asserting ownership over a piece of land. He may be telling the truth, and he may support his claim with valid title to prove that there is no falsehood in his claim. But even then, truth would still be wanting if in the exercise of ownership over his land he fails to consider that ownership is not absolute in the light of the Christian concept of stewardship.
Justice cannot stand alone apart from love. Similarly, one cannot attain peace by pursuing justice outside the bounds of love. As to Freedom, one must seek liberation from within. To what avail is being externally free while the soul languishes in one’s own self-made prison?
Admittedly the way to peace is hard. But God is willing to help because “Yahweh desires the peace of those who serve him (Psalm 35:27).” – Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email:[email protected]. Website:www.frdan.org.
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