December 7 – PEACE

We pray for Peace in our Life, our Families, our Communities, and in the wider World. It is an ongoing prayer. I am sure it has been human kinds’ prayer since the beginning of Creation. But it seems it is anything but peaceful.

In Mary and Joseph’s life there was constant goings on just to provide for their immediate needs and for the upcoming birth of the Messiah. I am sure this turn of events in their lives did not leave a sense of peace but one of confusion and anxiety.

In Isaiah (26:3) we are reminded that, “Those of steadfast mind you keep in peace – in peace because they trust in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for in the Lord God you have an everlasting rock.” In Psalm 118 vs. 22 says that, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.” And in Matthew 7:24-25, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock... What is God/Jesus trying to tell us here?..

For me, this means that if I keep God at the centre of my being, if God is my cornerstone, that no matter what is going on around me, God will gift me with an inner peace that cannot be shaken.

This is not an easy task because life happens all around me and I am drawn into the whirlwind, but when I focus on my heart’s desire there is a peace that falls in and around me.

As we wait for Jesus to be born in our lives anew each year, it is a wonderful gift that God never gives up on us, and to be encouraged to Trust in the Lord forever, for in the Lord God we have an everlasting rock. 

– Sr. Dorothy, SSJD