Hoping Gives the Fruit of Peace 

Jesus promised Peace to all who live his divine Life: 

Peace I give to you… not as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid (John 14:27). 

If we don’t experience Peace, we are not consciously living his divine life.  

We often blame others for taking away our Peace. Mistake. What others (“the world”) cannot give, others cannot take away. Our Peace does not rest on optimistic expectations, but on hope. Divine hope that, like faith and love, is from and in God alone. Hope in the Infinite, the All Powerful, whose Promise cannot fail.   

What have we to fear? “If God is for us, who is against us? He did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us. Will he not with him give us everything else?” (Romans 8:31). 

To “make assurance double sure,” Jesus renews his promise to us visibly, physically, in every Eucharist: “This cup poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood” (Luke 22:20). We see Jesus offering himself for us daily on the altar, then entering into each one of us with his own Body and Blood in Communion. How can we doubt that he will indeed “deliver us from every evil?”  

With such hope, how can we not have Peace? 

Our mission is to give hope to the world through the Peace that reveals our hope. This is the “fruit of the Spirit.” 

To live in Peace, hope!  

— Fr. David M. Knight

View today’s Mass readings on the USCCB website here

Easter season is the time to focus on the Holy Spirit. Starting on Easter Sunday, we will look carefully at how the Spirit is proclaimed, invoked, and presented to us in the Mass. Lex orandi, lex credendi: “As the Church prays, so she believes.”

After that, we will reflect on the Gifts and Fruits of the Holy Spirit (Isaiah 11:2; Galatians 5:22), and at how the Spirit enters the life of those who believe.

As you read these reflections, ask for the gift of Understanding. Ask to really understand what you believe, what you see and hear at Mass. Go deeper into understanding the Mass than you ever have before. We experience the Faith when we become aware of its mystery. We hope you reflect deeply on the Mass and Gifts of the Holy Spirit, and find yourself more and more drawn into the mysteries of our Lord in the Mass and in His Gifts.