13 th May, 2007

Sixth Sunday of Easter - Year C

S: Good morning - today we're on about peace and I found It interesting to read that in over 3100 years of recorded world history, the world has only known peace for an estimated 286 years. 8000 treaties have been made and broken and in any given day guns are firing in 30 to 40 nations.

B: Our word of life for today concentrates on this theme of peace. In the Gospel of John, Jesus reminds us, "peace I leave you, my own peace I give you, a peace the world cannot give." So I guess while we all talk about world peace, personal peace should be our starting point. You know, when we think about personal peace we often say things like 'Thank God that one is gone, we have a bit of peace', or 'I'd give anything for a bit of peace' or 'he's at peace now anyway.' So really we associate peace with the absence of hassle or troublesome people or pain and worry, yet we know that peace is a lot more than the absence of these things, it's about presence not absence.

S: Today we can set ourselves so many goals that life can lose its joyful quality. It's one deadline after another, isn’t it? Jesus tells us that we will find peace by ceasing to be self-centered, when we live for others, when we take the focus off ourselves. The Easter promise of peace can be yours even in the midst of life’s turmoil. We remember this morning all of you preparing for or doing exams at the moment and we hope that personal peace might be yours.

B: Our reflection this morning is the peace prayer of St Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace

Where there is hate let me bring love

Where there is guilt let me bring pardon

Where there is division let me bring unity

Where there is error let me bring truth

Where there is darkness let me bring faith

Where there is suffering let me bring joy.

S: You’ve been listening to “Just a thought” with Seamus Madigan

B: and Brenda Cribbin. We can be contacted through the Limerick Diocesan Offices at Henry Street. You can also download your own copy of this reflection by clicking on limerickdiocese.org

S: We look forward to your company again next week, so take care...

S & B: Bye !!!!!!!

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