My Thoughts on 12/05/2020

I am reading Dan Jones book, “Crusaders.” It is difficult reading about the atrocities perpetrated in the name of God. There was, in the men of the time, a great passion for the truth and the freedom to visit sacred sites of Christendom yet it is hard for a 21st century mind to understand the actions of those of the 12th and 13th century.

Jesus, in today’s gospel, says “Peace I leave you; my peace I give you, not as the world gives do I give to you.” The peace that Christ offers is the relationship and intimacy with the Father, through the gift of the Holy Spirit. The peace the world offers a reliance of our own strength and might and often a rejection of the need for God.

Pope Francis in his letter for Peace Sunday this year wrote: “The grace of God our Father is bestowed as unconditional love. Having received his forgiveness in Christ, we can set out to offer that peace to the men and women of our time. Day by day, the Holy Spirit prompts in us ways of thinking and speaking that can make us artisans of justice and peace.”