Today’s readings: Click on today’s date at http://www.usccb.org/bible/
World without end
Third Sunday of Easter, May 4, 2014
1 Peter 1:20-21
Jesus was known before the foundation of the world but revealed in the final time for you, who through him believe in God who raised him from the dead …
We are attending an enneagram conference at Loyola University. Driving in Chicago traffic, I’d better not be in a hurry. Patience is often missing in my fellow drivers, and just as likely missing in myself, and our lousy attitude doesn’t speed things up a bit.
So in short order, I slow down, relax, let the road come to me. Don’t worry, be happy.
Time doesn’t change, but my experience of it does. We will arrive at the Loyola campus in the “fullness of time.” And whether or not I can feel it in my bones, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Peter’s awestruck words, written to encourage suffering fellow Christ-followers, speak for God in the way Peter heard Jesus speak. Peter was not present at the foundation of the world, but he speaks with authority nonetheless. Like Jesus, Peter only says what he hears the Father saying.
The Father’s love for Jesus predates his presence on earth. Peter’s words echo our doxology: fullness of time for the Father’s love for Jesus was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be.
Does this evocation of eternity settle my anxiety and soothe my soul? Do my obsessive thoughts quiet? Do my egocentric demands on my world change at all? Can I be confident of this: that I will dwell in God’s house in the land of the living? That I am dwelling there right now?
Lives change on these words. I am so thankful that more than 2000 years after they were written, we can read them and discover their truth.
Lord, your presence and your truth surround us like the air we breathe. Your holiness lifts us up and makes us whole. We can rejoice with you in the salvation of the world. Make us messengers of your peace, which surpasses all understanding. Amen.
http://www.christiancounselingservice.com/archived_devotions.php?article_id=1289
