Our Lady Calls Us To Holiness
“Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike.” Luke 10:21
My son Paul has said to me, “Mom being with you is like being with a small child!” And when I visited my Son Jason in Seattle a few months ago he told me, “You’re just like a child. You say whatever comes into your head. You jump around from one thing to another.”
Although Jason loves his 6 and 8 year old children dearly, I’m sure they make him weary at times. Do I make him weary? I don’t think of myself as childlike, but apparently my sons do. But isn’t childlike a good thing according to Luke’s gospel?
Tonight at Mass Father Adam shifted from Patience to Peace in his homily, referencing the imagery in the reading from the prophet Isaiah: “Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; the calf and the young lion shall browse together …” comparing peace among people to peace among animals that normally can’t be together without the weaker one getting lethally injured.
I don’t need to be as innocent as a child to believe peace is possible and hopefully inevitable. In spite of all the conflict, hatred and war, I see peace in the future **since the world has gotten online. As we become one through technology, we’re getting to know each other as we move across virtual borders, as we travel across oceans and over mountains without leaving our home. And as we learn about our similarities and accept our differences, we get closer to each other. We become one people. We do what we can to help one another.
As Pope Francis works desperately for peace he was recently quoted with this reminder for us, “Authentic Islam and the proper reading of the Qur'an are opposed to every form of violence.” Pope Francis invites everyone from all religions to pray for peace and unity.
**online - connected to, served by, or available through a system and especially a computer or telecommunications system (as the Internet. http://www.merriam-webster.com/