Gospel Reflection For The 30th day of April in the year of Our Lord, 2024
Gospel
John 14:27-31
27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, do I give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid. 28 You have heard that I said to you: I go away, and I come unto you. If you loved me, you would indeed be glad, because I go to the Father: for the Father is greater than I. 29 And now I have told you before it comes to pass: that when it shall come to pass, you may believe. 30 I will not now speak many things with you. For the prince of this world cometh, and in me he hath not any thing.
31 But that the world may know, that I love the Father: and as the Father hath given me commandment, so do I: Arise, let us go hence.
While there are many aspects of today’s Gospel upon which we should meditate, given my commentary on yesterday’s readings, I would like to focus on just the first. Jesus gives us peace. I should probably say, JESUS GIVES US PEACE!!!!! With all of the trouble and strife in this world, what is there but Jesus that can give us peace? The answer is, nothing. While there will always be “wars and rumors of wars”, as I write this today’s headlines are warnings of potential nuclear war, economic collapse, rampant crime, drug overdoses, natural disasters and confusing articles suggesting Pope Francis wants the Church bless homosexual unions! There is certainly nothing in today’s news that should give anyone any sense of peace.
Where can we turn for peace? Do we find it in or families? Well, sometimes… but human nature is that the closer our relationship is to another the more they can and will upset us as we do them. Do we trust our government to protect us or our “leaders” to have our best interests in mind? That, is a flat NO. Do we have strong communities of friends and neighbors? That is increasingly rare. Are our jobs secure, are our dollar and our investments holding their value, do we have financial security? Most do not. Do we have trust in our doctors and health care system? I don’t. But, surely we can find peace in our Church…. Unfortunately, our current Catholic leadership seems intent on sowing confusion and division because their political ideology has supremacy over their adherence to orthodox Catholic doctrine and the plain Word of God.
Truly, we can find peace only in Christ. As Christians, we know how the story ends. We are assured by what we read in the Bible and by the many writings of saints who were given knowledge of things to come and the End Times that the current evils of this world were known beforehand by God. We are told that things will get worse. But, our faith should not be shaken. We are also told by God, who cannot lie, that “those who endure until the end will be saved.” Evil will be defeated. Our future, both individually and universally will be one of eternal peace and joy if we remain faithful to God. As for a pope who seems to be promoting heresy, we must remember that the Pope is only infallible on matters of morals and doctrine when issuing official statements in union with the cardinals and bishops and in accord with legitimate Catholic teaching. If the pope states something that is in violation of Catholic doctrine and the Bible, as approval of homosexuality certainly is, we are under no obligation to follow his teaching. In fact, we are obligated to respectfully oppose it. The pope has no authority to teach error and we may trust that the Holy Spirit will prevent it in matters of official Church teaching.
A Daily Catholic Devotional Reflections on the Daily Mass readings January-June, 2024. may be purchased as a .pdf directly from me using this link https://southernappalachianherbs.blogspot.com/2023/12/a-daily-catholic-devotional-reflections.html or in paperback on Amazon amazon.com/dp/B0CPD1DC7Q
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Gospel passages are taken from the Douay Rheims Bible.