Contemplating the Father .....

Peace .....

It began with Peter. At the moment of Christ's arrest at Gethsemane, Peter had drawn his sword. It had been a natural reaction. Whoever is attacked unjustly has the right to defend himself. And he also has the right to defend another innocent person. However, Christ said to Peter:  "Put your sword back into its place;  for all who take the sword will perish by the sword."  And Peter understood. He understood up to his last breath that neither he nor his brothers could fight with the sword; because the kingdom to which he had been called had to be won with the power of love, and with the power of truth, and only in this way ..... I think, dear Brothers and Sisters, that precisely at this  moment we are on this very path.

Pope John Paul II,  February 23 1980

God has created me to do Him some definite service; He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission – I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next.

I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for nothing. I shall do good. I shall do His work.

I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place while not intending it – if I do but keep His commandments.

Therefore I will trust Him. Whatever, wherever I am. I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him; in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him; if I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. He does nothing in vain. He knows what He is about. He may take away my friends, He may throw me among strangers. He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide my future from me – still He knows what He is about.

By Cardinal Newman

Epiphany ......

Today we celebrate the manifestion of the divine nature of Jesus Christ to the gentiles as represented by the Magi.

By manifesting his divine nature to the magi, through nature (the star), Jesus shows us that He became man to reach all humanity and that all humanity possesses the ability to recognise Him. In Jesus Christ "there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3 : 28).  All are destined to meet as brothers and sisters in Him, who is love, peace and joy.

Prayer for peace taken from Hebrew Liturgy:

Let all who dwell on earth simply acknowledge the truth of truths: that we have not come into this world for the sake of quarreling and war, nor for the sake of hatred, jealousy, anger, or bloodshed; rather, we have come into this world only to know You—may You be blessed eternally!

Therefore, have mercy on us, and fulfill among us what is written in your Scripture: “I shall give peace upon the earth, and you shall lie down with none to make you afraid. I shall abolish from the earth the predatory beast. The sword shall never come upon your land. Justice shall roll down like the water, and righteousness like a mighty stream. For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of The Omnipresent, as the waters fill the seas.”

Mary, Mother of God, Queen of Peace, Pray for us!

Listen .....