Sunday June 8, 2025

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Good News Reflections:
Making scripture meaningful to your daily life
by Terry Modica

Peace is the result of being alive in the Spirit. Peace is the Spirit’s activity within us.

Good News Reflection for:

Pentecost Sunday
June 8, 2025

Today’s Prayer:

Praised be to You, Jesus, because nobody and nothing can give us the peace You give. Your peace comforts and strengths us to be Your witnesses to the very ends of the earth. Thank You, Lord, for Your peace! Amen.

IMPROVE YOUR DAY!
Powerful Catholic prayers are available on our YouTube channel.

Today’s Readings:

Acts 2:1-11
Ps 104:1, 24, 29-31, 34
1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13 (or Rom 8:8-17)
John 20:19-23 (or John 14:15-16, 23b-26)
bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/060825-Day.cfm
USCCB Podcast of the Readings:
bible.usccb.org/podcasts/audio/2022-06-05

Partnering with Jesus in the power of his Spirit

John 20:19-23 is one of two possible Gospel readings for Pentecost Sunday. In it, Jesus says “peace be with you” twice. First, he gives his disciples the gift of peace so that they can take their focus off of their worries to look at him and recognize him standing in their midst.

Then he says it again while giving them the vocation of continuing the mission that he had started. This time, “peace be with you” is to be the fruit of a life lived in the Holy Spirit while serving God for the sake of the world.

It’s one thing to feel peaceful because we know that Jesus is with us. It’s quite a challenge, though, to feel peaceful when telling others about Jesus, for we feel inadequate and overwhelmed, and we’re afraid of being persecuted and rejected. That’s why he gave us his Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit gives us whatever we need for doing the work that the Father asks of us, and thus we are not really inadequate nor does God fail to comfort us when people reject us.

One of the fruits of partnering with Jesus in the power of his Spirit is an inner peace that does not depend on what happens, nor on what others do or don’t do to us, nor on how they respond to the Good News that we share with them. Peace is the result of being alive in the Spirit. Peace is the Spirit’s activity within us.

At the end of this Gospel passage, Jesus gives the Apostles (the first Catholic priests) the authority to forgive sins as surrogates of his divine presence. He is instituting the Sacrament of Reconciliation, which provides to us Jesus himself in the form of the human priest.

The same forgiving power of the Spirit enables all of us to experience peace in a sinful, tumultuous world. Even when forgiving is most difficult, in the Spirit of Christ we can do it. We can forgive those who hurt us, even if they never repent. And this is what restores our peace.

Questions for Personal Reflection:
What is causing you to feel unpeaceful? Whom do you need to forgive in those situations? If you’ve forgiven everyone and you still lack peace, do you need to forgive yourself? Or God? Consider going to a spiritual director or counselor for help in finding all the peace that Jesus wants you to have.

Questions for Family & Community Faith Sharing:
Give an example of how peace is a fruit of life in the Holy Spirit. What other fruits come from depending upon God and partnering with his Spirit?

For more reflection on the Holy Spirit, and, What are the gifts of the Spirit? What are the fruits of life in the Spirit? — see the Good News WordByte: “Who is the Holy Spirit?“ @ https://wordbytes.org/faqs/holy-spirit/.

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