20250525 PEACE IS BORN FROM FAITH IN GOD’S LOVE
25 May 2025, Sunday, 6th Week of Easter
First reading |
Acts 15:1-2,22-29 |
It has been decided by the Spirit and by ourselves not to burden you with any burden beyond these essentials
Some men came down from Judaea and taught the brothers, ‘Unless you have yourselves circumcised in the tradition of Moses you cannot be saved.’ This led to disagreement, and after Paul and Barnabas had had a long argument with these men it was arranged that Paul and Barnabas and others of the church should go up to Jerusalem and discuss the problem with the apostles and elders.
Then the apostles and elders decided to choose delegates to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; the whole church concurred with this. They chose Judas known as Barsabbas and Silas, both leading men in the brotherhood, and gave them this letter to take with them:
‘The apostles and elders, your brothers, send greetings to the brothers of pagan birth in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia. We hear that some of our members have disturbed you with their demands and have unsettled your minds. They acted without any authority from us; and so we have decided unanimously to elect delegates and to send them to you with Barnabas and Paul, men we highly respect who have dedicated their lives to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Accordingly we are sending you Judas and Silas, who will confirm by word of mouth what we have written in this letter. It has been decided by the Holy Spirit and by ourselves not to saddle you with any burden beyond these essentials: you are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols; from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from fornication. Avoid these, and you will do what is right. Farewell.’
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 66(67):2-3,5-6,8 |
Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you.
or
Alleluia!
O God, be gracious and bless us
and let your face shed its light upon us.
So will your ways be known upon earth
and all nations learn your saving help.
Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you.
or
Alleluia!
Let the nations be glad and exult
for you rule the world with justice.
With fairness you rule the peoples,
you guide the nations on earth.
Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you.
or
Alleluia!
Let the peoples praise you, O God;
let all the peoples praise you.
May God still give us his blessing
till the ends of the earth revere him.
Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you.
or
Alleluia!
Second reading |
Apocalypse 21:10-14,22-23 |
He showed me the holy city coming down out of heaven
In the spirit, the angel took me to the top of an enormous high mountain and showed me Jerusalem, the holy city, coming down from God out of heaven. It had all the radiant glory of God and glittered like some precious jewel of crystal-clear diamond. The walls of it were of a great height, and had twelve gates; at each of the twelve gates there was an angel, and over the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel; on the east there were three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. The city walls stood on twelve foundation stones, each one of which bore the name of one of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
I saw that there was no temple in the city since the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb were themselves the temple, and the city did not need the sun or the moon for light, since it was lit by the radiant glory of God and the Lamb was a lighted torch for it.
Gospel Acclamation | Jn14:23 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Jesus said: ‘If anyone loves me he will keep my word,
and my Father will love him,
and we shall come to him.’
Alleluia!
Gospel | John 14:23-29 |
A peace the world cannot give is my gift to you
Jesus said to his disciples:
‘If anyone loves me he will keep my word,
and my Father will love him,
and we shall come to him and make our home with him.
Those who do not love me do not keep my words.
And my word is not my own:
it is the word of the one who sent me.
I have said these things to you while still with you;
but the Advocate, the Holy Spirit,
whom the Father will send in my name,
will teach you everything
and remind you of all I have said to you.
Peace I bequeath to you, my own peace I give you,
a peace the world cannot give,
this is my gift to you.
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.
I have told you this now before it happens,
so that when it does happen you may believe.’
PEACE IS BORN FROM FAITH IN GOD’S LOVE
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ACTS 15:1-2, 22-29; REV 21:10-14, 22-23; JOHN 14:23-29]
One of the things we seek most in life is peace. There can be no happiness in life if we find ourselves divided in our hearts.
Why is there no peace in our hearts? Many of us conceive peace in terms of an idyllic state of bliss, where there is no activity; a state where we are free from all anxieties, problems and suffering. Jesus is not giving us the peace of the world. The peace Jesus came to bring is not that of the world. He said, “Peace I bequeath to you, my own peace I give you, a peace the world cannot give, this is my gift to you.”
What is so different about the peace that Jesus brings? It is a peace that comes about even if there are problems and tribulations. That is why this is a peace that the world cannot take away. Otherwise, the promise of Jesus would not hold true as the disciples faced persecution, suffering and even death. So, the peace envisaged by Jesus would mean a peace in spite of persecution and suffering. It is the paradoxical joy of the saints, a peace and joy that exist within suffering and pain.
Jesus said He has come to give us His own peace! But what is this peace that Jesus wants to share with us? It is an inner peace. It is salvific peace. It does not mean that there will be no struggles in life. So long as we live in this world, we will always have tribulations. But as Jesus said, “Do not be afraid for I have overcome the world!” So, the kind of peace Jesus is speaking about is a peace that springs from a right relationship with God, with man and most of all, with ourselves. How, then, do we acquire the same kind of peace which Jesus had when He was on earth?
Primarily, it is a peace that comes from a good conscience, from living a life of integrity. This peace comes from faithfulness to God’s will. Jesus was a man of peace because His whole life was to do the will of His Father. His will and the Father’s will were aligned. This is what it means to live a life of integrity. Jesus lived in total obedience to His Father. This is the basis for Jesus saying, “If anyone loves me he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make our home with him. Those who do not love me do not keep my words. And my word is not my own.” Jesus could ask us to do the Father’s will only because He did the same. He proved His love for His Father by keeping His word and being one with Him in everything.
This inner peace is only possible when we are faithful to the Father as Jesus was. Fidelity to the Father, which ultimately is fidelity to one’s vocation, is expressed in obedience. It was His total obedience to the Father’s will that gave Jesus that serenity in life. Even in the midst of trials and sufferings, Jesus could stand tall and firm because He knew that He was simply carrying out His Father’s will. Certain that that was what His Father wanted, He could also be confident of Himself in the face of challenges. Indeed, this is also valid for us. When we know that we are doing is what God wants of us, we have less to fear and nothing to hide because we know the Truth will set us free and vindicate us in the end. It is only when we are not sure that we are doing the Father’s will that we become hesitant and troubled.
This too was the case of the early Church. The disciples were filled with joy even though they were under persecution because they were doing the will of God. They were unsettled and disturbed when they faced the problem of dealing with the Gentile converts. There was a real conflict in wanting to stay true to their religion of Judaism and yet on the other hand, accepting the Gentile converts without having them observe the practices of Judaism. What kept the Church united was that both parties sought to obey God’s will and be faithful to His word. So, they prayed and discerned as to how the Holy Spirit was leading them to remain faithful in the midst of changes and new situations. In the end they were at peace when they knew what the Lord was asking of them. They said, “It has been decided by the Holy Spirit and by ourselves not to saddle you with any burden beyond these essentials: you are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from fornication.”
We too face much turmoil in life. We have our struggles. How can we remain at peace? The key to peace is our love for God and our faith in Him. Without faith, we cannot surrender our lives to God, especially in times of trials. Only faith in God’s love and providence can give us the strength to accept everything from the Lord with confidence. This faith that commands obedience springs from the experience of the Father’s love. Love brings faithfulness. The basis for peace really is the consequence of one’s union with the Father. This was the peace of Jesus. It was His union with the Father in all that He did and said that gave Him perfect peace. This explains why He said to His disciples, “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 peace came from His deep awareness that He was one with His Father and that He had come from the Father. He knew that nothing could overwhelm Him as His life was totally dependent on the Father. Even death could not hold Him back because He belonged to the Father. It is clear therefore that we find perfect peace only when we are one with God, knowing that God is with us because we are doing His will. It is our identity with the Father in Jesus that gives us that inner peace.
Only when we are assured of the Father’s love and presence in our lives, can we overcome all things. On this ground, the exhortation of Jesus makes sense, “Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.” Obedience to the Father is not simply a blind obedience carried out in fear and with great reluctance. Fidelity to the Father’s will must be the expression and outcome of our love and union with Him. In the mind of Jesus, all He wanted to do was that “the world must be brought to know that I love the Father” shown by His passion and resurrection. Jesus’ love for His Father was expressed in a life of obedience or submission. Obedience is the expression of His sonship and identity with the Father.
How do we attain intimacy and the presence of God? We need to develop a contemplative lifestyle, especially in prayer. Silence is required for us to listen to God intently. The problem is that we tend to be overly active, doing many things to distract ourselves so that we feel good about ourselves through our achievements. What is more important is that we listen to God who desires to have a relationship with us. Prayer, especially praying the scriptures, is the key to deepen our personal relationship with the Lord. The presence of Jesus comes about when we abide in His Word. We welcome the Word of the Father in prayer and meditation. Obedience is always the consequence of having heard the Word of God. Without obedience, it shows that we have never heard the Word of God in our hearts.
This awareness of God’s presence and the grace to carry out His word is made possible in the resurrection and the Holy Spirit that Jesus sent to us after His glorification. This was the assurance of Jesus to His disciples when He said, “I have said these things to you while still with you; but the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all I have said to you.” Truly, no one can come to Jesus without the Holy Spirit or understand His word with the Spirit’s revelation. Sensitivity to the Holy Spirit is therefore a critical prerequisite in hearing the Word of God and to feel His presence and the love of the Father.
Let us therefore imitate Jesus in His faithfulness by growing in faith through our experience of His love. This faith that is given to us through the grace of the Holy Spirit, together with our cooperation, will enable us to live a life of integrity, fidelity and love for God. When we live such a life, regardless whether we are successful or not, in good or bad times, our lives will be at peace for we know that God is with us and is happy with us.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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