Order glory and peace

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today resonate with themes of the nature of order in the Church that gathers followers of Jesus in peace.

Peaceful skies

The passage from Acts describes the conclusions of the Council of Jerusalem regarding the practices to be followed by Gentile members of the new communities.

* [15:13–35] Some scholars think that this apostolic decree suggested by James, the immediate leader of the Jerusalem community, derives from another historical occasion than the meeting in question. This seems to be the case if the meeting is the same as the one related in Gal 2:1–10. According to that account, nothing was imposed upon Gentile Christians in respect to Mosaic law; whereas the decree instructs Gentile Christians of mixed communities to abstain from meats sacrificed to idols and from blood-meats, and to avoid marriage within forbidden degrees of consanguinity and affinity (Lv 18), all of which practices were especially abhorrent to Jews. Luke seems to have telescoped two originally independent incidents here: the first a Jerusalem “Council” that dealt with the question of circumcision, and the second a Jerusalem decree dealing mainly with Gentile observance of dietary laws (see Acts 21:25 where Paul seems to be learning of the decree for the first time).1 

Psalm 67 is a petition for a bountiful harvest.

* [Psalm 67] A petition for a bountiful harvest (Ps 67:7), made in the awareness that Israel’s prosperity will persuade the nations to worship its God.2

The New Jerusalem images in the Book of Revelation radiate the glory of living in the presence of God.

* [21:9–22:5] Symbolic descriptions of the new Jerusalem, the church. Most of the images are borrowed from Ez 40–48.3 

The portion of the Last Supper Discourses from the Gospel of John today is enclosed by Jesus gift of peace to His disciples.

 [14:27] Peace: the traditional Hebrew salutation šālôm; but Jesus’ “Shalom” is a gift of salvation, connoting the bounty of messianic blessing. 4

Larry Gillick, S.J. finds in today’s liturgy the theme of belonging.

Jesus loves each of us and how we love Jesus is both accepting that love, unearned by us and of course, how we live being so loved. The “peace” Jesus leaves with us is not exactly satisfaction as the world gives peace. The peace which Jesus offers frees us from the necessity of self-satisfaction. Being so loved frees us from the fears and heart-troubles of not belonging, not being loved enough and not doing enough to be loved 5. 

Don Schwager quotes “God is pleased to dwell in us,” by Saint Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.

"God is not too grand to come, he is not too fussy or shy, he is not too proud - on the contrary he is pleased to come if you do not displease him. Listen to the promise he makes. Listen to him indeed promising with pleasure, not threatening in displeasure, "We shall come to him," he says, "I and the Father." To the one he had earlier called his friend, the one who obeys his precepts, the keeper of his commandment, the lover of God, the lover of his neighbor, he says, "We shall come to him and make our abode with him." (excerpt from Sermon 23,6) 6 

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, shares that the goal of Christian spirituality is to recognize and respond to the continual interior movements of the Spirit, for the Spirit will always lead us toward greater union with Christ and greater love and service of God and others.

The West—and the United States in particular—is fascinated with forms. We like impermanent things, maybe because they can’t nail us down to anything solid or lasting, and we float in an ephemeral and transient world of argumentative ideas. But this preference isn’t bearing substantial fruit. This culture seems to be creating people who are very unsure of themselves, who are grasping in every direction for a momentary sense of identity or importance.
The goal is to get people to a deeper level, to the unified field, or what I like to call “nondual thinking,” where God alone can hold the contradictions together.
When Christians speak of Christ, we are naming an ever-growing encounter, not a fixed package that is all-complete and must be accepted as is. On the inner journey of the soul, we meet a God who interacts with our deepest selves, who grows the person, who allows and forgives mistakes. It is precisely this give-and-take, and knowing there will be give-and-take, that makes God so real as a Lover.7 

Luke writes about the guidance provided to the Church by the Holy Spirit and we seek to live in the peace of Christ as we respond to the Spirit nudges.

References

1	(n.d.). Acts, chapter 15 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved May 26, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/acts/15
2	(n.d.). Psalm 67 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved May 26, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/psalms/67
3	(n.d.). Revelation, chapter 21 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved May 26, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/revelation/21
4	(n.d.). John, chapter 14 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved May 26, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/john/14
5	(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections - OnlineMinistries - Creighton University. Retrieved May 26, 2019, from http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
6	(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved May 26, 2019, from https://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/
7	(n.d.). God With Us — Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved May 26, 2019, from https://cac.org/god-with-us-2019-05-26/