“If this day you only knew what makes for peace…” – Luke 19:42 Jim MacLaren was a 22-year-old Yale graduate, athlete and aspiring actor. In 1985, while riding his motorcycle along New York City, a bus hit him. This resulted in the amputation of his left leg below the knee. Eight years after, while competing in a triathlon, he was hit by a van. He became a quadriplegic, not able to feel or move anything from his chest down.
With his body and spirit crushed, he fell into cocaine addiction. One day, while drugged and in his wheelchair, he saw himself in a familiar road where he once crossed the finish line as an Ironman champion. His perspective then changed. He said in an article, “It was the most exquisite blessing of my life — the opportunity to see my true self.” Through the book of Job, he realized what God was doing. He said, “I have come to believe that I needed these accidents to bring me deeper inside myself to a place where I could find honesty and peace.”
Peace is not the absence of chaos or problems. We can achieve true peace by having a personal relationship with Jesus, the Prince of Peace, and doing His will. (by Judith Concepcion
REFLECTION:
Are you at peace? Or are you looking for peace in other places? We only need Jesus, our source of true and lasting peace.
Lord Jesus, fill me with Your peace.
St. Bernward, pray for us.
