Searching for peace
Is there anything bothering you right now? A problem, an issue, a relationship, a concern perhaps? Try singing this nursery song: “Small circle, small circle, big circle. Small circle, small circle, big circle.” Act it out with your right hand, then your left hand, and then both your hands, as you sing!
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In today’s Gospel (Lk. 12, 49-53), Jesus tells us that there will always be divisions (small circle) in our lives, but that we should not stop working for peace (big circle). The more we keep putting our small circles into God’s big circle, then we can have peace. Let’s not give up on our search for peace.
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People often tell me: “Father, now that I am closer to the Lord, how come I encounter more trials and temptations? I thought I would have a more peaceful life now!” Our presumption is that the presence of Christ means the absence of conflicts, tensions and divisions in our lives. The presence of Christ in our lives gives us peace, but He will disturb our peace to challenge us to grow, and become better persons.
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Someone beautifully said that God is a God who comforts the disturbed, and disturbs those who are comfortable. Our journey to God’s heart is not only about being peaceful and complacent. It is also about being disturbed and challenged. God’s love is both tender and tough love.
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The main focus in our journey to God’s heart is God Himself, and not the sunshine or the storm we encounter along the way. In other words, the presence of God is what should give us peace, whether we go through peaceful or raging waters in our journey. God is with us, so we should have peace no matter what conditions we go through. If we have God, then we have that true peace which the world can neither give nor take away.
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If we are hurt, judged, ridiculed, persecuted, and experience all kinds of discomfort, harassment, and oppression in our work for justice and peace, let us not lose hope and be consoled with the thought that God is on our side. “As long as you know that God is for you, it does not matter who is against you.” (Romans 8,31)
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Last Aug. 15, we celebrated Feast of the Assumption of our Blessed Mother. Mama Mary was a woman of peace, who continuously yielded to God’s will, and who constantly put everything and everyone to God’s “big circle.” May Mama Mary, our Mother and our model, teach us to rise above our pride, selfishness, and pettiness, and help us to let go, and let God so that we can have peace.
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The secret for peace is that we hold on to God’s will, God’s way, and God’s time, and not to our will, our way, our time.
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There is that “lonely stretch” we all have to go through in our journey. It is a stretch when we do it with God, alone. People around us can help, pray, cheer, but they can only do so much. At times, it can be such a lowly and lonely journey, bereft of human consolation, and even of the divine. It is a journey to God’s heart, and, in this stretch, especially in the lonely stretch, we are never really alone. He may at times be hidden, but He has assured us that He will always be with us.
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Thought for the journey: “God will sometimes break the strongest bone in your life when you think you are very strong, so that from then on, you will say that the strongest part of you is God … not your career, not your family, not your friends, not your special someone, not who you are, but God.”
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Sometime, somewhere, all of us will meet our God, in His own terms, in His own time. The best way to prepare for that final meeting is meeting Him now, in our day-to-day lives. “If today you hear His voice, harden not your heart.” (Hebrew 3:15) May we, in our last and final moments, not be filled with regrets that we avoided His way, and disregarded His call.
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A moment with the Lord:
Lord, help us to keep on looking and searching for peace. Amen.
