Inner Peace

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 “I am baptizing you with water, for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is mightier than I. I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the holy Spirit and fire.” Matthew 3:11

I wanted to talk to you today about the second candle of Advent. The candle of Peace. The word 'peace' is used a lot these days. The world is full of strife and discontent. As long as humans think they are in control, that will remain. Each of us needs, of course, to be part of bringing peace by remembering we are baptized with the Holy Spirit and by fire. That means the Holy Spirit is in us, with us, and ready for us to use. Today’s first reading, found in Isaiah 11, gives us a glimpse of this Spirit: “The spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him: a spirit of wisdom and of understanding, a spirit of counsel and of strength, a spirit of knowledge and of fear of the LORD, and his delight shall be the fear of the LORD. Not by appearance shall he judge, nor by hearsay shall he decide, but he shall judge the poor with justice, and decide aright for the land's afflicted. He shall strike the ruthless with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked. Justice shall be the band around his waist, and faithfulness a belt upon his hips.” This spirit is given to us to help change the world, but it will also help us bring about inner peace. Inner peace. The busyness of the world, our environment of so much coming at us, can have our inner compass spinning so that there is no inner peace. Today, I encourage you to tap into the Holy Spirit, and the fire (passion, the heating up to be hardened) so that it can help bring about peace by righting our inner compass on the path..

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