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| “Pax”, Pater Karl Sadler, OSB |
Repent, therefore,
and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away, and that the Lord may grant
you times of refreshment and send you the Christ already appointed for you,
Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the times of universal restoration of
which God spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old. (Acts 3:19-21)
He said to them,
"These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that
everything written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms
must be fulfilled." Then he opened their minds to understand the
Scriptures. And he said to them, "Thus it is written that the Christ would
suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the
forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations,
beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things." (Luke 24:44-48)
Piety
"Peace be with you," You said to
your Friends, Lord. May I hear you speak
them to me. May you fill me with your
peace, overflowing upon my small world.
May I be fierce in faith while peacefully living as witness to your life
of love.
Study
Peter knew of what he spoke to the crowds in
Jerusalem. Jesus accepted his repentance
from betrayal and from Jesus’ mouth his sins were wiped away. His words to the audience were fierce in the challenge
yet tender as Peter named their sin and offered restoration to them. He spoke out of a faith which was forged in
hardship and misunderstanding until his mind was open and his friend, his Lord,
bestowed peace upon him.
Christ says “Peace” to me today but at times
I find it difficult to hear him or to feel his peace in my heart. There are days when I do not have peace when
my faith is stressed beneath the weight of fear, opinions, bias, anger or the
distraction of idols. If I do not live
in my faith and listen for the silence of Christ’s peace, I cannot share
it. My heart and mind is not open but is
rather closed in the walls of my upper room for fear of losing what I think
that I have. Repent and be converted,
Peter offers today, now. And Jesus
breathes his Peace upon me when I say Yes.
Action
We have
so many opportunities to hear the silence of Christ’s abiding peace. In your prayer time, during the Eucharist, as
you confess in Reconciliation still your own voice of fear, opinions, bias,
anger or the distraction of idols. Hear
Jesus’ peace and joyfully repent, gladly accept.
Illustration: “Pax”, Pater Karl Sadler, OSB http://www.paterkarlstadler.com/kunst/?linolschnitt
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