Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” – Luke 24:36
Jesus tells us… Think about the best gift you’ve ever gotten: that new computer, the cool video game, the bike you kept seeing in the store. They’re all nice gifts.
Jesus continues: But I have much better gifts for you. Gifts of supernatural proportions! They are My Presence and My Peace. These gifts never get holes in them. They never need new batteries. And they never go out of style.
Jesus describes: They also can’t be purchased at the local store or off the Internet. There is only one way to get these gifts. And that is to come to Me with a thankful, trusting heart.
Jesus reminds us: I created you to glorify Me. This means you can never spend too much time praising and thanking Me. Praising Me says you know that I am God and you trust My control over your life. Thanking Me opens your heart to receive My Presence and My Peace – the richest, most awesome gifts of all.
Luke 24:36; Matthew 28:20; Hebrews 13:15; Study Notes
Footnotes Luke 24:36; Jesus was reborn to a glorious life from the day of His resurrection. His new condition is not a lesser life, or something ghostly, but rather a super life. “Peace- shalom” is a Jewish greeting. It is a gift of the Risen One to His people so that they can place it in the heart of every creature and in human relationships.
Passage Matthew 28:20; And teach them to observe all the commands I gave you. And look, I am with you always; yes, to the end of time.
Footnotes Matthew 28:20; We are to do the will of the Father just as Jesus has revealed it. Also, we have the certitude which the name Emmanuel already expressed: Jesus is God-with-us until the end of time. This is not a static-cultic presence but a dynamic assistance, an active presence of Christ in the events of history and in the universal mission of the Church.
Passage Hebrews 13:15; Through him, let us offer God an unending sacrifice of praise, the fruit of the lips of those who acknowledge his name.
Footnotes Hebrews 13:15; The sacrifice of the mediator is globally assimilated to the existence of believers, who reflect that sacrifice with the spiritual offering of their own life, an authentic “sacrifice of praise to God”.
The Bible required that victims sacrificed for the forgiveness of the sins be burned outside the sacred area of the Temple: that was a way of showing that the sin of the people had been transferred to those victims, then thrown out to take all evil and sin away from the people. This rite somehow already announced what was to happen with Jesus who died outside the city of Jerusalem: He was the true victim for sin. Believers must leave the holy area, that is, a comfortable life, in order to seek the Kingdom of Justice to which little care is given. Believers “are not of this world”, and they refuse to enjoy this world as if it were their final homeland.
If we look for Jesus…we will see His Story!
POPE JOHN PAUL II
1920-2005
In 1979, Pope John Paul II ponders as he sits upon his papal throne in the Vatican
THE EVENT- Read More
In 1979, Pope John Paul II ponders as he sits upon his papal throne in the Vatican. Certainly, there have been many influential popes in the long line extending from Saint Peter to Pope Francis. But there are few, perhaps none, whose reach was felt as widely and deeply as that of John Paul II. The Reverend Billy Graham expressed it eloquently in an appreciation he once wrote for LIFE: “Few individuals have had a greater impact, not just religiously but socially and morally, on the modern world.” Just so: The great events of the 20th century influenced Karol Wojtyla’s extraordinary life, and as Pope John Paul II, he influenced events in turn. Born in the Carpathian foothills of southern Poland, Karol was a boy who stood out: uncommonly smart, artistic, sensitive and devout. He had a bright future, but Poland back then did not. In the 1930s, Nazi tanks rolled in and terror swept the country. One of the most infamous concentration camps was built at Auschwitz, only an hour’s journey from Karol’s town. Jewish friends of his youth started to disappear, along with Catholic priests. Nevertheless, Wojtyla entered a clandestine seminary in Krakow to study for the priesthood. After the war he developed a reputation as an able young cleric who could get things done, even as Poland suffered under the boot of atheistic communism.
JESUS WAITING THERE - Read More
Wojtyla rose in the Church to the rank of cardinal and then, stunningly, emerged in 1978 as the first non-Italian pope in more than four centuries. As pontiff, he quickly proved an indomitable force. Working behind the scenes with other world leaders, he played a crucial role in the fall of communism. After his death in 2005, John Paul II was beatified, and three years later, in 2014, he was canonized as Saint John Paul II. Traveling more miles than all the previous popes combined, John Paul II brought the worldwide population of Roman Catholics to more than a billion strong—he was his church’s greatest evangelist since Paul of Tarsus. He was a holy man and a political one, and his presence was felt in several realms.
Read More / Source; Life Magazine 100 People Who Changed The World