Scripture:
Isaiah 2:1-5
Psalm 127
Matthew 8:5-11
Reflection:
The news today is good! Let us open our minds and hearts to hear the message of the Lord, so as to make it known to the ends of the earth.
Our Savior is coming, have no fear. (Antiphon)
As we ponder and pray our readings together today, Isaiah calls us to climb the Lord’s mountain, to listen as our loving God instructs us in God’s way, and calls us to walk in God’s path – the path of peace!
God’s word is clear and asks each of us today to look within ourselves and at how we act toward one another in our common task to bring about peace. Where in our lives are we called to ‘beat our own swords into plowshares, our own spears into pruning hooks’? Where do we need to drop our swords against each other and to train for war–never again; Let us seek and find God’s own peace within our own walls, (in our hearts, homes, community, world) so that we can say to relatives and friends (and that includes even our enemies) ‘Peace be within you!
If our own strength, as individuals, communities and nations, relies on weapons, fences and power and we do not work together to change and work to deepen just and right relationships, how can there be peace and healing in our world that we are called to in today’s readings?
Let us then, in prayer, ask the Lord to give each of us the grace to be peacemakers in all the events and people we encounter today.
Sr. Marcella Fabing, CSJ, is on the staff of Christ the King Passionist Retreat Center, Citrus Heights, California.