Peace, Persecution, Righteousness

It’s almost Holy Week. A week that, I believe, we should put deeper emphasis on the meaning of Jesus’ ministry from the beginning to his resurrection. We continue with our Lent reading from the Gospel of Matthew.

The above three, peace, persecution and righteousness, are some of the central themes of Jesus’ teaching and preaching in addition to loving God and neighbor.

The peace we read about in the gospels has to do with a spiritual peace borne of faith and trust in God. This requires us to have a daily prayerful life. It also requires a consistent habit of reading and studying the Bible, especially the New Testament. A part of reading and studying the Bible is reflecting on the messages.

So often we are encouraged to memorize verses. I have no issue with this unless we use these memorized verses in ways that are, not only, taken out of context. I have seen bible verses to perversely make a point that is inconsistent with Jesus’ teaching.

It was my practice to cling to the message of verses. Whether it was to welcome the stranger, feed the stranger as we are told in the Old and New Testaments or stand with the marginalized.

As followers of Christ, it is important that we have a clear understanding of what righteousness means and how it is closely related to justice. The same justice that God speaks about in the Old Testament, Jesus taught his disciples.

Doing what is right, which often does not align with man-made rules and laws, may result in being persecuted. That is what happened to Jesus when he spoke against the Jewish leaders and Roman government.                                                                                                                                     

When we have developed authentic spiritual peace, we will find the strength and courage to endure what may befall us. Remember, God has promised to be with us always.

Note: We are providing a free webinar, Three Self-Emptying Days, review, Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday.  Register for the webinar here

Millie Padilla

FSJ Admin