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Tuesday of the 5th week of Eastertide or Saint Conleth, Bishop

May 4th, 2010

‘Peace I bequeath to you, my own peace I give you. A peace the world cannot give, this is my gift to you
John 14.27

People always treasure the last words of a loved one especially if they come from someone whon is at peace and read to die. St. John, the beloved disciple, who leaned on the Lord’s breast at the Last Supper, must have listened very carefully to his Masters farewell discourse. There was so much to remember but then of course, Jesus had promised that the Holy Spirit would enlighten them and help their memories.
In the passage read at Mass today, Jesus is bequeathing his own peace to his disciples. Our Lord knew what was to befall him – betrayal, suffering and death. And yet he was at peace. That peace came from his close relationship with his Father. Jesus knew that his Father would be with him through it all.
So as he approached his death, our Lord was more concerned about his disciples than he was about himself. He didn’t want them to be anxious or afraid and above all he wanted them to have peace in their hearts.
This is Our Lord’s wish for us too – ‘peace be with you’. Next time we hear the priest say these words at Mass, let us open our hearts to receive with joy and gratitude Christ’s Easter gift of peace I give you. Then we can be channels of this peace to all those whose lives we touch.

Prayer


Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is darkness, light. Where there is sadness, joy. ( St. Frances of Assisi )

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The prayer for each day has been prepared by various members of the Holy Family Association. All who visit our website are remembered in prayer. If you would like us to pray for a particular need, simply complete and submit the form on the right hand side of this page. You may wish to leave a comment in the space below.

Just a Thought

How the Holy Family prayer: A Reflection by Pope Benedict XVI

“I would like to invite you to reflect on the place of prayer in the life of the Holy Family of Nazareth. The home of Nazareth, in fact, is a school of prayer where we learn to listen, to ponder and to penetrate the profound meaning of the manifestation of the Son of God, drawing our example from Mary, Joseph and Jesus.

Pope Paul VI during his visit to Nazareth said “we come to understand the need for a spiritual discipline, if we wish to follow the teaching of the Gospel and become disciples of Christ.” And he added: “First, it teaches us silence. Oh! That there would be reborn in us the esteem for silence, that wonderful and indispensable atmosphere of the spirit: while we are deafened by so many noises, sounds and clamorous voices in the frantic and tumultuous times of modern life. Oh! Silence of Nazareth, teach us to be resolute in good thoughts, intent upon the interior life, ready to listen well to the secret inspirations of God and the exhortations of the true masters.”

We can glean several insights on the Holy Family’s prayer and relationship with God from the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ childhood. We may begin with the Presentation of Jesus in the temple. St. Luke tells us that Mary and Joseph, “when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, brought the child up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord”(2:22). Like every observant Jewish family, Jesus’ parents go up to the temple to consecrate the firstborn son to God and to offer sacrifice. Moved by fidelity to the law’s prescriptions, they set off from Bethlehem and go up to Jerusalem with Jesus, who is now forty days old. Instead of a one-year-old lamb, they present the offering of simple families; that is two young pigeons. The Holy Family’s pilgrimage is one of faith, of the offering of gifts, a symbol of prayer, and of encounter with the Lord, whom Mary and Joseph already see in the son Jesus.”

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