Daily Reflection _ peace and prosperity

PEACE AND PROSPERITY
If the nations are ever to beat their swords into plowshares, we must beat down our own personal feelings of hatred and contempt into love and concern.  
Deacon John Ruscheinsky
"Jerusalem" means "peace," yet it has struggled for peace since its foundation. It is meant to be a city where people come together in unity, and yet people are still fighting. Where is our Peace? People of all times have yearned for peace. Isaiah, in the Old Testament, prophesied that peace would come from Israel provided the people learned to walk in the light of the Lord (cf Is 2:5). He said that if Israel would turn to the Lord, the nations would stream to the house of the God of Jacob to seek instruction as to how to walk in the paths of the Lord. For over all, the Lord's glory will be shelter and protection.
Isaiah did not understand that his words would be fulfilled only in the Church, the New Israel. With the coming of Christ the angels heralded the message of "peace on earth." But has the Church failed as did Israel? Where is the peace that Jesus came to bring?
In one sense the Kingdom of peace and justice is still in the future. It will be fully realized only in the final coming of Christ Jesus. We, like the Israelites, are a people who must look to the future. On the other hand, we should not expect the final coming of Christ to effect a sudden reversal in the state of the world. We must work for the final coming of Christ by making the Church, that is, ourselves, as much like the final Kingdom of justice and peace as possible.
Transforming the world through Jesus is a gradual process. To draw people to Christ Jesus through His Church is the first step. Living as Jesus has taught us, with love for all, can move people to say, "Come let us climb the Lord's mountain, to the house of God, the He may instruct us in His ways and we may walk in His paths" (Is 2:3ab).In the Responsorial Psalm we acclaim, "Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord" (cf Ps 122:1). This Advent, we need to pray for peace and may our love prosper.May peace be within us and prosperity in our buildings. If the nations are ever to beat their swords into plowshares, we must beat down our own personal feelings of hatred and contempt into love and concern. If the nations are ever to turn their spears into pruning hooks, we must turn our self-seeking into generosity and service.
Today, in the Gospel of Matthew, we read about a man of faith and humility. He had faith to recognize that Jesus possessed the power to cure his paralyzed servant and that he needed Jesus! You know, at a first glance, this Gospel may strike us as a strange reading for the first week of Advent. Actually, however, the faith and humility of this military man serves as a reminder to us of what our attitude should be during this season of Peace, Hope and Love as we prepare to celebrate Christmas, the birth of the Light of the World!
As we pray for peace, may we first have faith that Jesus, and Jesus alone, has the power to help us. Secondly, we have to be humble enough to admit that we need Him, that of ourselves we can do nothingand that all human resources are insufficient to make us spiritually sound. Jesus offers us peace and healing in the Sacraments, most especially in the Eucharist. To help us grow in faith and humility the Church has adapted the words of the centurion and put them on our lips before we receive the Eucharist: "Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed."
If we make those words an expression of real faith and humility, then our celebration of this Christmas will take on more meaning. Yes! We will always look to the future for a Kingdom of peace but we will realize that the future comes to be only because of the present. May this peace come from within us daily.