Peace Be With You
Welcome to Word for the Week, the series in which I:
share my experience of hearing God’s Word in Mass last weekend,
explore what I believe the Lord is calling me to do about that Word, and
ask how this Word might impact your life, as well.
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Lately, for “home church” we gather 2 parents, 4 kids, and one auntie/nanny into our home office. I lead songs from the keyboard. Our focal point is David’s favorite painting of Christ. Different family members take turns proclaiming the readings with a microphone. No matter what, there are a lot of distractions at church with 4 kids under the age of 10. I'll share thoughts about this week once I have time to pray through it. But looking back to last weekend, the message was both clear and repetitive on Divine Mercy Sunday.
“Peace be with you.” Jesus said it three different times in the 20th chapter of the Gospel of John. The word impacted me in myriad ways over the course of last week. For brevity, I’ll elaborate on just one of those ways. (Disclaimer: This is about to get super girly.)
Early in the week, I came across a podcast from a ministry that I love called Fierce Athlete . The episode was entitled “The Female Fertility Cycle + Sports Performance.” As the podcast played in my earbuds on my morning run, I kept stopping to take notes. The host, Sam Kelley, whom I consider a friend and colleague!, interviewed Marie DiCecco. A long-time health education teacher, an athletic coach, and a Fertility Care Practitioner, Ms. DiCecco spoke with compassion, honesty, and a thick New York accent.
This podcast helped me recognize how I frequently disdain myself for a process that naturally occurs because of who I am as a woman. Upon further reflection, I realized the Lord is calling me to be at peace with my body. That includes what I perceive as weakness in myself!
I don't fully *get it* yet, but I don't need to. If He's calling me to be at peace, He'll show me how to integrate that peace into my thoughts and feelings.
So many of the Easter Season readings speak specifically about Jesus’ Body. Last Sunday, for instance, Jesus invited Thomas to reach out and touch the wounds in his hands and side. (My kids were pretty appalled/enraptured by the Doubting Thomas narrative.) Also, lots of those same stories feature a group of confused apostles.
Philippians 4:6-7 says, “Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”
If you're on a journey to be at peace with yourself or with others mentally, emotionally, or physically, I'll leave you with some recent advice from 3-year-old Serra. She gets it better than I do.
Serra: “God doesn’t make us afraid, Mom. He makes us not afraid.”
Me: “Where did you hear that, Ser?”
Serra: “I just know it, in my heart.”
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