May 12, 2020 – Tuesday 5^th Week of Easter

Click here for the readings (http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/051220.cfm)

How often do you worry?

I am sure that we would find ourselves worrying about many things in life, almost everyday. You worry about your husband or your wife, or your growing children and the failing health of your parents. Or we worry about the demands of our job or the difficulties in our business, or about your new relationships, and newfound friends. We might also find ourselves worrying about our tomorrow, of what is to come the next day because of the uncertainties brought by the pandemic. Or worrying also about our unfulfilled dreams and unsatisfied desires.

Our worries and anxieties may prevent us from seeing things as they are because our minds and hearts are already troubled. When worries and anxieties overwhelm us too, we might not be able to respond properly and responsibly because we are internally disturbed. 

Indeed, excessive worrying may lead us to high anxiety, which may cause us physical and mental illness. When this comes, our decision making process is also affected and our relationships with others and even with God will suffer.

That is why; it is very important that we remain calm and at peace with ourselves and with what surrounds us. It is in this way that we will be able to move forward with our life and will be able to respond generously to what God calls us to be.

Today, the Risen Jesus invites us to be confident with the gift that his resurrection brings to us. Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you but not as the world gives, do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.”

It would be good for us to see and understand what Jesus was saying about the peace that he gives and the peace that the world gives.

Let us see first to what Jesus said about the peace that the world gives. We may understand that what the world tells us about peace is the normalcy of life or ‘business-as-usual.’ This means that we go and proceed to what we usually do in life by doing what we want and by satisfying our needs and desires. But is it really peace at all?

The peace that the world gives is shallow and remains self-centered. This peace focuses on our ego. But then, when the ego is not satisfied then the promised peace is lost because worries and anxieties will overwhelm us again.

However, the peace Jesus gives is something different. This peace is growing in confidence with God, with my brothers and sisters no matter who they are. Thus, this peace allows us to see and recognize our brothers and sisters. This peace breaks any form of division, discrimination and indifference.

This goes beyond to what is physical but into our hearts, in believing and becoming confident that God is with us and that God never abandons us. This peace sips through our troubled life, even into our stressful work or ministry, and into our un-reconciled relationships, into our danger-filled surrounding brought by covid-19, into the many displacements and halting of our so-called normal life before the Covid-19,  and into our anxieties of what is to come tomorrow.

Jesus gives us His Peace! This is Jesus’ gift to us. Are we ready to accept it? Are we willing to embrace it? Or do we prefer to just do our normal and usual things in life? To continue making ourselves submerged in worries and anxieties of life?

Jesus wants us to be free from the troubles of worries and anxieties, to be free from fears and hesitations. This is the reason why the Lord gives Himself to us so that we will have him and enjoy his peace.

Be confident that the Lord is with us; the Holy Spirit is among us and within us. By becoming confident in Jesus, we may also recognize the peace that others may bring into our lives. Hence, be welcoming also of the peace that our brothers and sisters may bring into our life.

Peace be with you always. Hinaut pa. 

Jom Baring, CSsR