my homily for this Sunday<\/a><\/strong> from several years ago:\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\nIt\u2019s worth noting: when Jesus sends his followers into the world, they are not sent empty-handed. They go bearing one simple message. \u201cPeace.\u201d Jesus tells them: \u201cInto whatever household you enter, first say, \u2018Peace to this household.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Peace.<\/em><\/p>\nIt is also the first word he will say to them after the resurrection, when he appears in the upper room. And it is the great message he is asking them \u2013 and asking us \u2013 to carry into the world.<\/p>\n
Carry no sack, no money, no sandals.<\/p>\n
Carry, instead, peace.<\/p>\n
It is his first word to those who wish to follow Christ.<\/p>\n
Two thousand years later, I\u2019m not sure we\u2019ve done a very good job of spreading that word.<\/strong>\u00a0Whatever else there may be in the world today, there is very little peace. And I\u2019m not speaking only of the absence of war \u2013 though God knows, we don\u2019t lack for wars.<\/p>\nThey are also the countless conflicts that erupt in our daily lives.<\/p>\n
Between husbands and wives.<\/p>\n
Between parents and children.<\/p>\n
Between neighbors. Between co-workers. Even between strangers on the street.<\/p>\n
I can tell you, some of the fiercest battles I\u2019ve seen are waged in cars at the intersection of Yellowstone Boulevard and Queens Boulevard.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ve probably seen a few yourself, just out in our parking lot.<\/p>\n
But how often do we put those aside and say to people in our lives: \u201cPeace\u201d?<\/p>\n
How often do we make peace our mission\u2026and our message?<\/p>\n
How often do we strive to be Christ to others?<\/p>\n
How often do we strive to see Christ in the faces of those we do not understand\u2026or those with whom we disagree?<\/p>\n
The writer Anthony de Mello tells the story of a man whose marriage was in trouble. He sought some advice from a spiritual master. The master told him, \u201cYou must learn to listen to your wife.\u201d The man took the advice to heart and returned several weeks later and said he\u2019d learned to listen to every word his wife was saying.<\/p>\n
The master smiled and said, \u201cGood. Now go home and listen to every word she isn\u2019t saying.\u201d<\/p>\n
I think if more of us did that \u2013 not just with our spouses, but with each other \u2013 it might be a beginning, a first step, toward making peace a reality. Because to listen THAT way means you don\u2019t have the last word. In fact, it makes Christ\u2019s first word the last word. Peace. It means a kind of humility and attentiveness to one another that Christ asks of us.<\/p>\n
It is a way of going into the world with nothing\u2014except what really matters.<\/strong><\/p>\nBecause, in truth, the detachment that Jesus is demanding isn\u2019t just a detachment from things \u2013 though that\u2019s a start. It is a detachment from ourselves. It is separating from our own pride, our own ego, our own sense of entitlement, our own feeling that we always have to be right.<\/p>\n
It is taking with us nothing but what we are \u2014 stripped of what we pretend to be, divested of what we own, all that we use to impress people.<\/p>\n
It is putting that aside and carrying forth just one message, in Christ\u2019s name: peace.<\/p>\n
Read it all.<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I\u2019m on vacation and traveling through scenic Virginia this weekend. But here are a few thoughts from my homily for this Sunday from several years ago:\u00a0 It\u2019s worth noting: when Jesus sends his followers into the world, they are not sent empty-handed. They go bearing one simple message. \u201cPeace.\u201d Jesus tells them: \u201cInto whatever household […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":299970,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[12561],"class_list":["post-299967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homilies","tag-peace"],"yoast_head":"\n
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