Thursday of the Thirty-Third Week in Ordinary Time

Saint Mechtilde of Hackeborn (1241-1298)

Other saints: Saint Roque Gonzalez and his companions (-1628); Saint Raphael Kalinowski (1835-1907); Saint Barlaam, Martyr (?Fourth Century); Saint Nerses, Bishop, and other Martyrs (Fourth Century); Saint Nerses I, Martyr (c. 330-373); Bd James of Mantua, Bishop (1338)

Readings of the Day

RB: Ch 41 The Times for Meals

Mass: Rev 5:1-10; Resp Ps 149; Lk 19:41-44

For the Lord loves His people.

HEART OF JESUS, OUR PEACE AND OUR RECONCILIATION,

HAVE MERCY ON US.

As Jesus continues His journey to Jerusalem and now sees the city, He weeps over it, saying: If this day you only knew what makes for peace. Those words followed by what Our Lord says next, are relevant here and now, but now it is hidden from your eyes (Lk 19:42). We too, do not know what makes for peace unless we keep in the forefront of our minds, hearts, words and deeds that the peace of Jesus is not as the world gives, as Jesus told the disciples at the Last Supper: Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. (Jn 14:27). The peace that Christ gives is, as an acquaintance wrote, a peace that relates to finding contentment in one's vocation. It is "peace that allows us to say with confidence and Divine Solace: Father, Thy will be done." Put another way in a commentary: "Peace lies in surrendering to the Lord in trust and living by His love, not in fretting over the wrongs done by others. Undue concern over evils we cannot mend prevents us from taking true delight in Him" (Magnificat, Prayer for the Evening, November 18, 2020, p. 279). Yes, surrendering to Our Lord and seeking to do His will in all that we say and do. And from experience, we find that surrendering ourselves to the heart and will of Jesus does not come without shaking us up a bit. We fret. Oh, let not your hearts be troubled (Jn 14:27), says Our Lord and Master. With the words of the Prophet Isaiah, we go forth: "By waiting and by calm you shall be saved, in quiet and in trust your strength lies (Is 30:15). Peace I leave with you.

A little longer-and the wicked shall have gone.

Look at his place, he is not there.

But the humble shall own the land

and enjoy the fullness of peace.

(Ps 37)

SAINT MECHTILDE OF HACKEBORN,

PRAY FOR US.

© Gertrude Feick 2020