Word of the day

A reading from the Acts of the Apostles
ACTS 14:19-28

In those days, some Jews from Antioch and Iconium
arrived and won over the crowds.
They stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city,
supposing that he was dead.
But when the disciples gathered around him,
he got up and entered the city.
On the following day he left with Barnabas for Derbe.

After they had proclaimed the good news to that city
and made a considerable number of disciples,
they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch.
They strengthened the spirits of the disciples
and exhorted them to persevere in the faith, saying,
“It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships
to enter the Kingdom of God.”
They appointed presbyters for them in each Church and,
with prayer and fasting, commended them to the Lord
in whom they had put their faith.
Then they traveled through Pisidia and reached Pamphylia.
After proclaiming the word at Perga they went down to Attalia.
From there they sailed to Antioch,
where they had been commended to the grace of God
for the work they had now accomplished.
And when they arrived, they called the Church together
and reported what God had done with them
and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.
Then they spent no little time with the disciples.

From the Gospel according to John
JN 14:27-31A

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.
Not as the world gives do I give it to you.
Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.
You heard me tell you,
‘I am going away and I will come back to you.’
If you loved me,
you would rejoice that I am going to the Father;
for the Father is greater than I.
And now I have told you this before it happens,
so that when it happens you may believe.
I will no longer speak much with you,
for the ruler of the world is coming.
He has no power over me,
but the world must know that I love the Father
and that I do just as the Father has commanded me.”

The world teaches us the path of peace with anaesthesia. And the world anaesthetises us so that we do not see another reality of life: the cross. For this reason, Paul says that on the journey, we must enter the kingdom of heaven through many tribulations. But can there be peace in tribulation?. On our part, no, because we are not capable of creating a peace which is tranquil, a psychological peace, a self-made peace, simply because there are tribulations, which for one person may be pain; for another, disease; for another, death. But the peace that Jesus gives is a gift: it is a gift of the Holy Spirit. And this peace undergoes tribulations and [yet] goes forth. It is not a sort of stoicism, that of ‘playing the martyr. It is really another thing entirely. (Santa Marta, 16 May 2017)