8 July, Thursday – Peace Be With You

Thursday of Week 14 in Ordinary Time

Gen 44:18-21,23-29,45:1-5
Mt 10:7-15

“…let your peace come back to you.”

The Gospel for today is a continuation of Christ’s instruction to the apostles. As I reflect on it more, the more we choose to follow Christ, the more it gets harder. Though they have the capacity to cure the sick and cast out evil spirits, they have to live simply. They have to do miracles for free. I believe that it is acceptable. But they are not allowed to bring any money at all. Not even a change of clothes and footwear. They will just have to rely on those people who would accept them in their homes. Nowadays, it is not very easy to welcome strangers in our homes, due to security and safety reasons. During the time of Jesus, it was the other way around. They were the ones who had to be more careful to “look for someone trustworthy and stay with him in his home.”

I think one of the highlights of their mission is bringing peace to the home that receives them. That scenario is similar when we give each other the sign of peace during mass. How do we say “peace be with you” to others? Do we really mean it? Or are we saying it just for the sake of saying it? I hope we really want to spread peace to others. There could be someone who will benefit because of that very simple gesture. So next time when we attend mass, let us say “peace be with you” like we truly want to give peace to that person. We all deserve to receive genuine peace.

Even so, there will still be people who will not accept Christ. He promised that “it will not go as hard with the land of Sodom and Gomorrah.” It denotes that we will not experience the worst scene ever again. This clearly shows how merciful our God is. As God is merciful Himself, we must also show mercy to others. We must be merciful like the Father.

(Today’s OXYGEN by Beryl Baterina)

Prayer: Father, please give us the grace to accept what you have given us. Grant that we may be able to produce fruits from these gifts.

Thanksgiving: Thank you Father, for the gift of faith. Thank you for those who accepted us as well as those who do not. Thank You for your mercy.