Acts 15:1-2,22-29 ; Ap
21:10-14,22-23: Jn 14:23-29.
In 403 BC, Han, one of the Seven
Warring States of China, asked the rulers of Wei to dispatch troops to assist
it in attacking the state of Zhao. Marquis Wen of Wei declined the request and
said: "Because Wei and Zhao are brotherly states, we have signed a pact of
mutual nonaggression. Thus, I dare not comply with your request." Upon
hearing this the Han messenger left in anger.
When those in Zhao heard what
happened, its ruler asked Wei to provide troops to help attack the Han.
Marquis
Wen of Wei used the same reasoning to reject Zhao's request. The Zhao messenger
left in anger, as well.
Afterwards, both Han and Zhao
thought about Marquis Wen's friendly and tolerant attitude and how amicable he
was towards both of their states. They admired him greatly and showed respect
to the state of Wei. In this way, Wei became the leader of the three states:
Wei, Zhao, and Han.
There is an ancient proverb:
"Tolerance enables one to be magnanimous, and the lack of desires makes
one stronger." Tolerance is an extraordinary trait. It means having a
magnanimous heart and a state of being filled with compassion and selflessness
This is the message of today’s
first reading. The Apostles undertook zealous missionary journeys; and people
from different backgrounds, various religious traditions and political frame
work embraced Christianity. As a result of this, serious problems arose in the
church. The immediate problem that threatened the unity of the Church was
“Would the Jews who had become Christians have to give up observing the Law of
Moses, or would the non-Jews have to accept the Law of Moses?”
For the Jews to abandon the Law
of Moses in which they had been brought up was blasphemy. On the other hand,
Christians who came from other traditions found extremely repugnant to observe
certain Jewish laws and accept Jewish rites.
Moved by the Spirit, the
community at Antioch decided to send a delegation to Jerusalem to bring the
matter to the apostles. They called a
meeting of the whole Christian community to discuss the issue. The focal point
was to preserve the unity in the Christian community. The suggestion the
apostles put forward was the principle of tolerance. After long discussions it was decided to abstain
from practices that might hurt the feeling of others and to respect the
traditions and customs of others. The Apostles, Elders and the whole community
sacrificed their personal opinions and accepted the authority of the church.
Thus peace was restored in the community by means of strengthening their unity.
This is the message of Jesus in today’s Gospel.
“Peace I bequeath to you,
my own peace I give you,
a peace the world cannot give,
this is my gift to you.”
Jesus says that the peace He
offers is different from the one that the world gives. It results from unity.
When the Christian community remains united like Jesus is united with his
father the gift of peace will pervade in our communities too. The peace of
Jesus comes to us when we obediently submit ourselves to God’s Divine Will through
the authority of the Church. Then we are blessed with Divine peace; we are no
longer troubled or afraid.
Intolerance leads to the worst
kinds of disaster. In the mythology and history we can find many horrible acts
of intolerance. Cain killed his elder brother Abel, because he could not bear
the importance of Abel in the eye of God. The Catholic queen Mary of Great
Britain burnt the Protestants alive, because she should not tolerate the
Puritanism. Aurangzeb killed Hindus under the feet of elephants, because he
could not tolerate Hinduism. Sometimes we quarrel with others owing to such
intolerance. Many of our enemies are the outcome of our intolerance. We cannot
make justice, because we are intolerant to hearing the views which are
different from ours.
“Until you have learned to be tolerant with
those who do not always agree with you; until you have cultivated the habit of
saying some kind word of those whom you do not admire; until you have formed
the habit of looking for the good instead of the bad there is in others, you
will be neither successful nor happy.” Says Napoleon Hill.
You can demonstrate your
tolerance at home, by focusing on the strengths of members of the family rather
than that of their weaknesses. You can show your tolerance at work place by
showing kindness and acceptance to all – not just those you are comfortable
with.
Thomas Hardy Wrote:
And at each clash I would surmise
That if I had acted otherwise
I might have saved me many
sighs.”
Our attitude of tolerance will
certainly save us many sighs and bring peace to our life.
Satish