Harmony

Have you ever known a moment when, just for a brief instant, you felt that all was right with the world? It is just such a moment, stretched into eternity, that the writer of Isaiah describes in today’s first reading: the perfection of everything, centered in God’s spirit, where knowledge, justice, and awe in God’s presence reign.

In such a paradise, everyone sees eye to eye and thinks in harmony with each other, as Saint Paul describes in his letter to the Romans. Even animals with a natural animosity toward one another coexist peacefully. John the Baptist understood that such harmonious relationships do not simply happen. They are the fruit of living in right relationship with God and others.

Words of Our Lady of Guadalupe to Juan Diego

“Let not your heart be disturbed. Do not fear that sickness, nor any other sickness or anguish. Am I not here, who is your Mother? Are you not under my protection? Am I not your health? Are you not happily within my fold? What else do you wish? Do not grieve nor be disturbed by anything.”