To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Gospel Reflection for Friday, February 14, 2025
Christians Must Be Messengers of Peace
The first thing Jesus tells His disciples is that they must be bearers of peace. The second instruction is that they must heal the sick. And the third—only the third!—is to proclaim the nearness of the Kingdom of God.
Jesus is not naive. He doesn’t believe that life is always easy, like a perpetual springtime. He knows that He is sending His disciples out “like lambs among wolves.” And we all know what happens to lambs that get lost in a pack of wolves—they end up skinned, violently killed, and left abandoned. Yet, despite this, Jesus asks them to go out on the roads without any luggage or provisions. “Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals.”
What Jesus is proposing is an entire way of life for His disciples. But they didn’t fully understand it. Proof of this is that Peter himself draws his sword when they come to arrest Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane (John 18:10-11). And if we look at the history of the Catholic Church (and of other Christian churches), we see that we have continued to draw the sword, we have waged wars, and we have killed in the name of faith. If we are honest and realistic, we have not exactly been men and women of peace throughout history.
But as the saying goes, “It’s never too late to do the right thing.” There is still time to take these basic instructions from Jesus to heart and become men and women of peace. We have made some progress—many of our military forces are now carrying out peacekeeping missions in different parts of the world under the United Nations.
But that is not enough. We must be people of peace in our everyday lives—in our families, with our friends and acquaintances, in our workplaces. In the way we talk about politics and politicians. Sometimes, I am amazed at the violent words spoken by some of our brothers and sisters who attend daily Mass.
Words of peace. Gestures of peace. The patience of peace. Always. Even when the wolves come and threaten us.