The Daily Gospel

«Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.» John 6,68 Tuesday, 22 April 2008 Tuesday of the Fifth week of Easter Today the Church celebrates : St Teodore of Sykeon, St Leonida John Tauler : "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you" Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 14,27-31. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid. You heard me tell you, 'I am going away and I will come back to you.' If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father; for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you this before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe. I will no longer speak much with you, for the ruler of the world is coming. He has no power over me, but the world must know that I love the Father and that I do just as the Father has commanded me. Get up, let us go. Commentary of the day : John Tauler (c.1300-1361), Dominican at Strasbourg Sermon 23, for the Sunday after Ascension "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you" In time of trial the man who genuinely neither wants nor desires anything but God must hide himself in him and wait patiently for calmness to return... Who knows where or how it will please God to come back and fill him with his gifts? As for you, wait patiently in the shadow of the divine will; this is worth a hundred times more than spurts of flashy virtue... For God's gifts are not God and we ought to rejoice in him alone, not in his gifts. Yet our nature is so greedy, so self-centred, that it insinuates itself into everything, grabbing hold of what does not belong to it and thus tarnishing God's gifts and impeding God's most precious work... But as for you, immerse yourself in Christ, in his poverty and purity, his obedience, love and all his virtues. The Holy Spirit's gifts are given to man in him: faith, hope and charity, truth and interior joy and peace in the Holy Spirit. We also find abandonment in him and sweet patience by which we receive all things from God with a tranquil heart. All that God permits and decrees, prosperity and adversity, joy or sorrow, all work together for man's good (Rom 8,28). The smallest of events to happen to a man was seen eternally by God, it pre-exists in him, it takes place as he has willed and not otherwise. So be at peace! This peacefulness in all things is only learned in true detachment and the interior life... Such is the lot of the noble man when he is firmly established in resting his soul in God, in the desire for God alone that throws light on everything: all is purified by Christ along the way.