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We have gathered here as we call ourselves ‘Christians’ —
literally ‘followers of the Anointed One’. But what does it mean to follow the
Anointed One of God? Today we get a stark answer to that question: ‘If anyone
wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross
every day and follow me.’ Let us begin our assembly by reflecting on how well
we follow him.
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Michel de Verteuil
General Textual comments
Today’s gospel reading is clearly divided into sections. In
your meditation, start with one alone, although you may eventually find a
connection between the different sections.
In verses 18 to 21 Jesus puts to his disciples the deepest
and most sacred question that we can ask one another: “Who do you say I am?”
Identify with Jesus doing the asking, or with the disciples being asked. You
can then concentrate either on the content of Peter’s answer or on the way
Jesus asked the question, e.g. why did he ask it the way he did, or why at this
particular moment of his life.
In verse 22 Jesus says clearly that he knows the
difficulties that his chosen path will bring him, and at the same time he is
confident that he will eventually be victorious.
In verses 23 and 24 we have two of the most famous sayings
of Jesus. In meditating on such paradoxical sayings, you must let yourself make
a journey into the paradox, identifying with each part of the saying, and
feeling that they are contradictory, but eventually discovering that they are
not really so, and in the process entering into a new insight that touches you
deeply. You might also ask yourself why is Jesus giving that kind of teaching
today, to you personally or to the world.
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Gospel Notes
This is the scene conventionally labelled ‘the confession at
Caesarea Philippi’. It is found in all three synoptics. But Luke’s version is
the most distinctive, by far the shortest, and the most stark. In Mark this is
the very centre of his whole story and there is the complaint of Peter that
draws out the cry from Jesus: ‘Get behind me, Satan!’ Then in Matthew we have
all that is in Mark, plus the Petrine commission: ‘You are Peter and on this
rock I will build my church.’ Indeed, Matthew’s text has been used so often
that this reading from Luke is virtually unknown, and when it is known we
silently conflate it with Mt / Mk.
Read Luke and note the starkness:
(1) There is no location given — Caesarea Philippi is mentioned in Mark (who is followed by Matthew) but this detail is omitted by Luke — this is just an event that has happened on the road as part of the following of Jesus by his disciples.
(2) There is just Jesus and ‘disciples’ — note there is not
even a reference to ‘The Twelve’; the scene is one of Jesus with the followers
(i.e. the church who are listening to Luke) for Luke has made this an
archetypal encounter. Peter is only there to give the essential answer; he is
not the focus of Jesus’s attention as he is in differing ways in Mark and
Matthew.
(3) There is no banter: the conditions of discipleship are
given as statements of what life will be like.
(4) Just in case there is any mistake about the nature of
discipleship, Luke adds a single word to the text of Mk 8:34 (which Matthew
takes over from Mark without change): ‘daily’ — discipleship will not just
involve taking up a cross or some spectacular suffering which one might well
avoid, but it will mean taking up the cross every day.
Luke takes a scene and story that is localised as part of
the memory of the times of Jesus in Mark and Matthew, and universalises it for
the experience of the church. This is the Christ of God speaking to every
community in every time about whom they are following and what that following
will involve.
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John LittletonGospel Reflection
Jesus once asked his disciples: ‘Who do the crowds say I
am?’ (Luke 9:18). They replied: ‘John the Baptist, others Elijah; and others
say one of the ancient prophets come back to life’ (Luke 9:19). It is easy to
speculate generally about other people and their opinions. However, it is often
much more challenging to be specific about ourselves when the attention is on
us.
Who do we say that Jesus is? This is a central question
regarding the fundamentals of the Christian faith. It challenges us to know
what we claim to believe as Christians and, after prayerful reflection, to
reaffirm our belief in Jesus the Messiah, the Son of the living God. Without
any doubt, the answer to Jesus’ question ‘Who do you say that I am?’ is: Jesus
Christ is the universal Saviour, our Lord and God. For example, Peter’s answer
was: ‘The Christ of God’ (Luke 9:20), that is, the Messiah, the Anointed One.
Unfortunately, however, we often answer the question ‘Who do
you say that I am?’ by using well- rehearsed phrases that, while theoretically
correct,have not been internalised because they have not arisen from our
personal experience of the Lordship of Jesus Christ in our lives. There is a
vast difference between knowing about Jesus Christ and knowing him personally —
in the same way that there is a significant difference between knowing about a
colleague at work and knowing that person personally. During Jesus’ earthly
ministry, many people who knew about him did not know him personally. Sadly,
that situation has remained unchanged today.
Human civilisation is, in one sense, advancing greatly. Our
ideas and our language are increasingly sophisticated. We live in a rapidly
expanding information age. Yet, in another sense, our civilisation is slowly
but surely disintegrating. It lacks meaning and a definite purpose.
Traditional values and well-established principles are being
abandoned. For many people, the name of Jesus Christ is just another piece of
the huge jigsaw of knowledge and information. His name is not acknowledged as
unique in the history of humankind. Indeed, his name is frequently used
blasphemously. In such a culture, Christians are losing their sense of
identity.
Our identity is rooted in Christ Jesus, the Lord of the
universe and Saviour of humankind. At baptism we became brothers and sisters in
Christ, co-heirs to the kingdom of God. If we acknowledge seriously the
baptismal dignity that is ours, then we can never ask ‘Who am I?’ without
simultaneously asking ‘Who is Jesus for me?’ Our true identity can only be
found in the salvation he has won for us by his suffering and death.
We need to ‘go back to basics’.
Who is Jesus for us? What words and phrases do we use when describing his significance
in our lives? Do those words merely communicate knowledge about him or do they
communicate a deeply personal relationship with him that acknowledges him as
the only Son of the living God? We need to be wary about using language that
sounds attractive but actually means nothing because it has not been
internalised. Let us avoid making the mistake of knowing about Jesus Christ
while not knowing him personally.
1. Who is Jesus? On this question hangs not
only the whole of Christian theology, but every aspect of our life of faith.
‘Christology’ – which is the attempt to provide the answer to the question – is
not an abstract academic study within a theology course, but the constant
activity of believers: when we celebrate, when we act or write or paint or
sculpt, when we engage in social activities, in all of these there is implicit
christology. Every action of the church in some way says or betrays how
Christians in their hearts and lives – as distinct from their repeated rhyming
off of creeds or formulae of orthodoxy – answer the question. Some of those
statements and actions might show him as merciful; others might show him as a
killjoy or as a tyrant (but in the spiritual realm). Then there are attitudes
that are tantamount to docetism: he never really became an individual human in
the midst of the circus of life; and there are attitudes that are tantamount to
reducing Jesus to a moral philosopher or a ‘God-like’ chap. And, there are
actions of Christians that imply he is irrelevant to the actual living of life
in society.
2. So we have our two starting points: (1) who
is Jesus is as much a question for our gathering today as it was in the assembly
in which Luke was telling his story; and (2) there are as wide a diversity of
opinions among those who have heard his words as ever before. It is a rare
occurrence when a situation in the gospel and a situation in a community today
have such complete congruence.
3. But how do we make this question small
enough to say something focused in the course of a homily? Perhaps one could
begin with a seemingly frivolous question: what is Jesus’s surname? Is it
‘Christ’? This is quite a common practice in indices in books on the history
of ideas where Jesus is referred to as a kind of populist philosopher: ‘Christ,
Jesus, pp n, n, n.’ Funnily enough, this is not a new phenomenon: it is Luke
who records that the followers of Jesus were called ‘Christians’ in the
Greco-Roman world, and many Romans such as Tacitus and Pliny thought so as well
and assumed that ‘Chrestus’ or ‘Christus’ was simply the name of the originator
of our cult. The trend continues today when people say ‘you followers of
Christ’; and we are often just as guilty when we say ‘we are followers of
Christ’. But the word ‘christ’ is not a name, but the basic title by which we
acknowledge who Jesus is.
4. Our confession of faith is: ‘Jesus is the Christ.’ He is
the individual we call ‘the anointed one’. Chosen by the Father to enter into
the totality of our human experience, Jesus is Lord; and he is the Son giving
to all reality a worth such that it can exist in the presence of God. To say
‘Jesus is the Christ’ is to say that all humanity is offered the chance to be
transformed into the divine image. It is a wholly different way of looking
at the world and at the human condition. And if we really see the world in this
new way – as countless brothers and sisters of Jesus have down the centuries –
then we will react in a wholly different way to human joys and human sorrows.
All that is good and noble can lead us towards holiness; all that is sordid or
sad can be transformed.
5. However, a small start would be to stop using ‘Christ’ as
if it were a surname – that is the practice of those who have not encountered
Jesus but just heard about him – and begin using it as the our basic confession
of faith: Jesus is the Christ. Amen.
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Scripture Prayer
Lord, people today think
they can know themselves through objective tests,
that can be bought in a store and “administered” by strangers.
But, as Jesus taught us, the question “Who am I?” is a sacred one.
Others can help us only if they have walked with us for years,
if we have been alone with them for long hours and they have prayed with us.
And when they have helped us it will be something so personal
that we will not want them to tell anyone about it.
that can be bought in a store and “administered” by strangers.
But, as Jesus taught us, the question “Who am I?” is a sacred one.
Others can help us only if they have walked with us for years,
if we have been alone with them for long hours and they have prayed with us.
And when they have helped us it will be something so personal
that we will not want them to tell anyone about it.
Lord, we remember with
gratitude a retreat we made with some companions.
We remember how after those days we knew them so much better,
partly because we had shared deeply,
but more from the mere fact that they had prayed alone in our presence.
Before that retreat, we – like “the crowds” –
had put them into categories according to their age, race or social class,
or as other people we had known who had come back to life in them.
Now we looked on them with reverence,
seeing them as unique individuals, your own specially anointed ones.
We remember how after those days we knew them so much better,
partly because we had shared deeply,
but more from the mere fact that they had prayed alone in our presence.
Before that retreat, we – like “the crowds” –
had put them into categories according to their age, race or social class,
or as other people we had known who had come back to life in them.
Now we looked on them with reverence,
seeing them as unique individuals, your own specially anointed ones.
Lord, forgive us that we
want to be known as “prophets”
or “the presence of God in the world” or “light of the world”.
Teach us to be humble like Jesus,
so that when people give us these titles
we will give them strict orders not to tell anyone anything about this.
or “the presence of God in the world” or “light of the world”.
Teach us to be humble like Jesus,
so that when people give us these titles
we will give them strict orders not to tell anyone anything about this.
“There is no way on
this earth that you can say yes to human dignity and know that you will be
spared any kind of sacrifice.” Cesar Chavez
Lord, once we give ourselves to a noble cause
there comes a time as it did for Jesus when we know for certain
that we are destined to suffer grievously,
that we will be rejected by people who have been our teachers,
and others whom we looked upon as holy and learnéd,
and that we will be defeated many times.
But deep down within us we know too that we will always start again.
Lord, once we give ourselves to a noble cause
there comes a time as it did for Jesus when we know for certain
that we are destined to suffer grievously,
that we will be rejected by people who have been our teachers,
and others whom we looked upon as holy and learnéd,
and that we will be defeated many times.
But deep down within us we know too that we will always start again.
“In Caribbean
politics, the moon is promised by politicians, and democracy consists in making
a choice between competing sets of promises which are dangled temptingly every
four or five years.” Michael Manley
Lord, we pray for our political leaders, that they may be more like Jesus,
that they will respect us sufficiently to tell us honestly
that we must renounce our natural desire for easy solutions to our problems,
and that we must take up every day
the burden of solving these problems from our own resources.
But of course they must also be like Jesus in setting the example by doing this themselves.
Lord, we pray for our political leaders, that they may be more like Jesus,
that they will respect us sufficiently to tell us honestly
that we must renounce our natural desire for easy solutions to our problems,
and that we must take up every day
the burden of solving these problems from our own resources.
But of course they must also be like Jesus in setting the example by doing this themselves.
Lord, it is one of the
marks of Western civilization today
that we need to be superior to others in order to establish our identity:
* men humiliate women to prove their masculinity;
* nations arm themselves to the teeth to gain the respect of other nations;
* as a Church, we prove others false so that we can call ourselves true.
Send us teachers like Jesus to remind us
that we can never find our true vocation by concentrating on ourselves,
but if we serve others after his example you can lead us to our true selves.
that we need to be superior to others in order to establish our identity:
* men humiliate women to prove their masculinity;
* nations arm themselves to the teeth to gain the respect of other nations;
* as a Church, we prove others false so that we can call ourselves true.
Send us teachers like Jesus to remind us
that we can never find our true vocation by concentrating on ourselves,
but if we serve others after his example you can lead us to our true selves.
“If today’s
flourishing civilizations remain selfishly wrapped up in themselves, they could
easily place their highest values in jeopardy, sacrificing their will to be
great to the desire to possess more.” Pope
Paul VI
Lord, we thank you that the Popes are reaching nations with the message of Jesus
that if they want to save their true greatness
they must be willing to give up some of their power and security.
Lord, we thank you that the Popes are reaching nations with the message of Jesus
that if they want to save their true greatness
they must be willing to give up some of their power and security.
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Homily 2:
Today's First Reading from the Book of Zechariah [Zech. 12:10-11] was prophetic in nature. Seven hundred and fifty years before its fulfillment, inspired by the Holy Spirit, the prophet Zechariah foretold the piercing of the Lord Jesus on the Holy Cross in Jerusalem and the mourning of many for the One that they loved so much. This prophecy foretold of the tears of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the other women who were present, the Apostles and the many followers of the Lord who admired Him as a great Teacher.
This prophecy also foretold that
Jesus, the promised Messiah, would be a descendant of King David who had lived
two hundreds and fifty years earlier in time. How marvellous are the prophecies
that are received from God. They are one hundred percent accurate, even when
foretold one thousand years ahead of time. Truly, for God, all times, past,
present and future, coexist as one, He knowing all things. From today's Second
Reading from the Letter to the Galatians, [Gal. 3:26-29] we are reminded that
through the Sacrament of Baptism, we have become children of God, sons and
daughters of God. Our adoption in the Divine family echoes that we are of
Abraham's seed. This does not mean that we are of Abraham's biological seed but
rather his spiritual seed. He was the first of God's people. Us, we are counted
among the endless number of believers who have embraced the God of Abraham
through faith in Christ Jesus.
As a body without a spirit is dead, so faith without works is also dead. It is insufficient to just have faith in Jesus. Christ commanded us to receive the Sacraments of the Holy Catholic Church that He has instituted on earth. He commanded us to receive the Sacrament of Baptism, the Sacrament of Confession and the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist through participation in the great Feast of the Holy Mass on a weekly basis. He commanded us to receive the Sacrament of Matrimony by marrying a believer to protect and defend the precious gift of faith that we have received from our ancestors by the grace of God.
To clothe ourselves with Christ means to continuously receive the Sacraments, to live as Jesus lived, to obey God's Commandments, to be faithful to the teachings of the Holy Catholic Church, to live holy lives by loving one another as Christ loved us. So great was the love of Jesus that He laid down His life for each and every one of us.
Today's Reading from the Gospel of Luke [Lk. 9:18-24] delivered a number of spiritual messages to us.
First of all, the attention is drawn on Jesus. Who was Jesus? Who did the crowds think that He was? Who did Saint Peter think that Jesus was? There were those who believed that Jesus was John the Baptist who had returned. Some believed that He was Elijah. Others believed that He was one of the prophets of long ago who had come back to life. These answers echoed either returning from the dead or reincarnation. Both of these beliefs are rejected by the Holy Catholic Church. The dead do not return for a second chance. There is no second chance. When we move on after death, we are judged accordingly to the way we have lived in this life, this one and only life.
When Peter was asked who he thought that Jesus was, He answered, "The Messiah of God." The word "Messiah" is Hebrew for the word "anointed." The Greek translation is "christos" from which comes the word Christ. In Israel, kings, like priests, were anointed. The future King, who was to be the Saviour of His people and the world, came to be spoken of as "the Anointed One." The word was applied to the future Saviour in the Old Testament [Psalm 2], in telling of the conspiracy of the enemies of Jehovah and "his Christ." It was used in later Jewish writings; and the New Testament shows that it was in current use in Our Lord's time.
Secondly, the Gospel draws our attention to Jesus' prophecy that He would suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law. And finally, He would be killed. But on the third day, He would rise from the dead. Such a prophecy must have been hard for the Apostles to swallow. After all, no one comes back from the dead. When you die, your time here on earth is finished, now and forever. What was spoken by Jesus to the Apostles was meaningless at the time. It was only after His glorious Resurrection that the Apostles would remember his prophecy.
Thirdly, the Gospel draws our attention to the necessity to renounce one's life and to follow Jesus by persevering in the trials that may cross our daily path. Those who strive for fame, wealth, pleasures, they are lost. For these goals oppose spiritual growth. It is better to have little and to be happy with it, being thankful to God for all that one receives. It is better to be humble, submissive to God, obedient to the Commandments, than to elevate oneself above all others. Those who defend and spread their faith, they shall be glorified by God throughout eternity. Those who are ashamed of Jesus and their faith, refusing the defend and spread the Catholic faith, they shall be eternally lost. For one cannot serve two masters, the God of glory and the god of indifference.
Jesus said, "Take up your cross and follow me." That is not just a bunch of words; it is a strict command by the Lord Jesus Himself, to follow Him. This week, let us reflect on these Sacred Words of Jesus. Let us ask ourselves if we are being obedient to the Lord Jesus, if we are taking up our cross and following Him. If so, then praise the Lord. If not, then it is never too late to begin. This week, let us also pray for one another, especially for those who need to take up their cross, that they may find the strength to do so for the glory of the Lord Jesus.
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Homily 3 (ACP):
The Big Question
One day, somewhere in the foothills of Mount
Hermon, where Jesus had brought his disciples for a quiet time, he asked them
straight out, “Who are people saying that I am?” It marks one of the most
crucial moments in the public life of Jesus. St Luke suggests that the whole
episode took place in a brief period of stillness and reflection, far withdrawn
from the hectic course of events prior to it. Indeed this chapter in Luke’s
gospel marks a turning point in Christ’s mission, for towards the end of it we
are told, “As the time drew near for him to be taken up to heaven, he fixed his
face firmly to go to Jerusalem.”
Heading for Jerusalem cost an interior struggle
in the heart of Jesus. Was he feeling apprehension to what was to be his fate
in Jerusalem? It seems clear he knew quite well that he was going to meet his
death there at the hands of his enemies. Or was he looking back at what he had
achieved, trying to see what understanding of himself and his mission his
disciples had learned? By way of answer to, “Who do people say that I am?,” his
disciples listed for him some of the popular rumours that were circulating
about him, that he was John the Baptist restored to life, or a reincarnation of
Elijah, one of the greatest prophets in Jewish history. Then came a breathless
silence, and he put the question which meant so much to him, “Who do you say
that I am?” It is never enough to know what other people have seen in Jesus.
Christianity never consists in knowing about Jesus; it always consists in knowing
Jesus, and this in a more intimate and personal way. In other words, the
discovery o Christ must ultimately come from a person-to-person experience
between each of us and Christ, an experience moreover that matures within the
Christian community that begets it and plays such a prominent part in
sustaining it.
Peter’s answer to this question about the
identity of Jesus is the only one recorded, and it is interesting to examine
the different wordings given in the three synoptic gospels. The oldest one, that
of Mark, simply states, “You are the Christ.” The title Christ, or Messiah,
means “the anointed one,” and in Old Testament times only kings, priests, and
prophets were anointed, and Christ was seen as all three. Luke’s gospel has the
slightly longer answer, “You are the Christ of God.” The version in Matthew,
written later still, is the longest, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living
God.” “You are the Christ,” “You are the Christ of God,” “You are the Christ,
the Son of the living God.” At least two of these answers, you might argue, are
not exactly what Peter said. But a religious message with computerised
exactness, in every detail, was never what the evangelists set out to give us.
They Gospels reflect the faith of the Christian
communities out of which they grew. And what we are witnessing, in the short
period between the writing of Mark’s gospel and that of Matthew, is the growth
in their understanding of the significance of Christ. The active faith of the
first Christians was penetrating deeper and deeper into the mystery that was
Christ. It was only after deep reflection on the sayings of Christ, on the
miracles he worked, and especially on his post-resurrection appearances that
they arrived at the conviction that he was a divine person.
The successors to the contemporaries of Jesus
continued to find a more meaningful answer to that query, “Who do you say that
I am?” And Christ to this day continues to issue the same challenge to each one
of us also. St Paul writing about the faith to his young companion Timothy
said, “I know whom I have believed.” Note he did not say, “I know what I have
believed.” Christianity does not mean saying “yes” to a list of truths. It
means knowing a person – not a person away out there, remote from us, but the
person of Jesus Christ as he dwells by faith within us, for each of us is
called to be the temple of the risen glorified Son of God.
Justice and Discrimination
People today are more ready to listen to a
message about rights and freedoms and personal dignity than about self-denial
or taking up the cross. Yet I suggest that today’s readings show us a nice
balance between human dignity and equality for all and the need for
self-sacrifice and keeping the crucified and pierced Christ whom we profess to
follow clearly in view. Modern freedoms are welcome and too long delayed, but
they bring attendant dangers and often a deceiving loyalty to Christ’s teaching
(for example, the woman who says “My body is my own” as an excuse for
abortion.)
One of the following could be developed:
(1) Each should know and rejoice in our own
dignity as child of God. But each other person is as good as we are in the eyes
of God, equally a brother or sister of Christ.
(2) The first duty of a Christian towards his
neighbour is to give him his proper dignity as a son of God. Allow him or her
to be what he or she is.
(3) It is only if you know your worth in God’s
eyes, and that worth is respected by others, that you can reasonably be asked
to deny yourself.
(4) Remember the one they pierced on the cross.
That’s the Master we follow. And remember that he is pierced often today in the
oppressed, the poverty-stricken, the sick, the neglected. I must seek for them
the dignity I claim for myself.
Has the Cross a place still?
Medicine has improved remarkably and today the
prospect of sudden grave illness has greatly diminished. Half a century ago,
the life of a priest was dominated by what were called “sick calls.” Day or
night he could be called, and often was, to administer the last sacraments to
the dying. He daren’t leave his house without leaving explicit instructions as
to where he could be found and if for some reason he had to leave his parish,
he would always contact a neighbouring priest, to cover his parish in his
absence.
No priest today feels this awesome
responsibility. Nowadays most people die in hospitals, where they are
cared for by chaplains; back then, most died in their homes. Everybody,
including children, would have seen death at close quarters. They would have
watched over a dying member of the family, for days arid weeks and months, as
life slowly ebbed away until at last it flickered out. Sooner or later, “the
Great Reaper’ (depicted as a skeleton wielding a scythe,) was an occasional
visitor in every home. Almost the only use made of the “parlour” in country
houses was to lay out the dead and hold the wake.
Before pain-killing drugs became widely
available, mainly due to the Hospice movement, sickness and death were always
accompanied by suffering and in response people turned to what they
called “the consolations of religion.” They had an instinctive empathy for the
suffering and death of Christ, which we can barely comprehend now. The Stations
of the Cross had an enormous appeal for them. It helped them make sense of
their own lives. They were urged to join their sufferings to the sufferings of
Christ. Unavoidable suffering was seen as “the will of God” and “resignation”
in the face of suffering was the great virtue. We were taught “to offer it up”
in reparation for personal sins and those of others. It explains the enormous
popularity of somebody like St Thérèse of Lisieux, the Little Flower, who was
canonised not long after her death. She died from tuberculosis in her early
twenties and her diary “The Little Way” had enormous appeal in Ireland, where
there was scarcely a home that had not lost a young boy or girl prematurely as
a result of tuberculosis.
Now tuberculosis has been eradicated, only to
be replaced by cancer, which in turn seems about to be conquered by medical
science, through carefully targetted anti-cancer agents. Suffering no longer
occupies centre-stage as it did formerly, but it will remain, like death, a
permanent part of the human condition. The cross will remain forever at the
core of Christianity, although at this time in history, in our post-Christian
era, it is probably more worn as an ornament rather than as a religious symbol.
But what Christ said in today’s gospel, he says to all: “If anyone wants to be
a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross every day
and follow me.”
What do YOU answer?
Today’s gospel poses the central question of
our faith: “Who do you say that I am?” If we reply that Jesus is someone we are
prepared to follow, he makes very clear what that will imply. Imagine, if you
can, Jesus posing that same question to a group of intellectual theologians.
The answer would go something like this: “You are the eschatological
manifestation of the ground of our being; the kerygma in which we find the
ultimate meaning of our interpersonal relationships.” I could well imagine that
Jesus’ reply would be: “WHAT?’!
“And you, who do you say that I am?” Jesus is a
personal God, who asks personal questions. “Will you also go away?” “Do you
love me more than these?” The question is addressed to each of us personally,
and the answer must come from personally too. We will not find that answer in a
book, but in the heart. If we are to follow him, we must join in his journey,
as Peter did. We must take up the cross of daily living, faithful to his call,
so that he can lead us to the fullness of life. If we follow him, we need not
expect much in the way of earthly glory for our pains. Just as he was rejected
and marginalised for refusing to conform to the standards of this world,
whoever takes him seriously may expect a similar response.
The complete answer to the question is “You are
my Saviour, my Lord and my God.” “You are Saviour in the room of my past; the
Lord of the room of my future, and you are God in the room of today.” God is
totally a God of now. “I am who am.” If he is Saviour, then I don’t have to be
back in the past, with regret, guilt, or self-condemnation. If he is Lord, then
I don’t have to live in the future, with worries, anxieties, and fear. I need
have no fear of the future, if I believe that he holds the future. If he is God
today, then “there is nothing impossible with God.”
ILLUSTRATIONS:
1. Walking
on Water
There is an old story that has often been re-told in especially the
Eastern Orthodox part of the church. According to the tale, a devout abbot from
a monastery decided to take a prolonged spiritual retreat in a small cabin
located on a remote island in the middle of a large lake. He told his fellow
monks that he wanted to spend his days in prayer so as to grow closer to God.
For six months he remained on the island with no other person seeing him or
hearing from him in all that time. But then one day, as two monks were standing
near the shore soaking up some sunshine, they could see in the distance a
figure moving toward them. It was the abbot, walking on water, and coming
toward shore. After the abbot passed by the two monks and continued on to the
monastery, one of the monks turned to the other and said, "All these
months in prayer and the abbot is still as stingy as ever. After all, the ferry
costs only 25 cents!"
2. Abraham
Lincoln
It dogged him all his life.
In 1832 he was defeated for the
legislature.In 1833 his business failed.
In 1836 he had a nervous breakdown.
In 1843 he lost the nomination for Congress.
In 1854 he was defeated for the Senate.
In 1856 he lost the nomination for vice president.
Then, in I860, he was elected president.
-Abraham Lincoln
3. A
Boy’s Self-appraisal: Who do people say I am?
A little
boy went into a drug store, reached for a soda carton and pulled it over to the
telephone. He climbed onto the carton so that he could reach the buttons on the
phone and proceeded to punch in seven digits (phone numbers).
The
store-owner observed and listened to the conversation: Boy: "Lady, Can you give me the job of cutting your lawn?
Woman: (at the other end of the phone line): "I already have someone to cut my lawn."
Boy: "Lady, I will cut your lawn for half the price of the person who cuts your lawn now."
Woman: I'm very satisfied with the person who is presently cutting my lawn.
Boy: (with more perseverance) : "Lady, I'll even sweep your house and your sidewalk, so on Sunday you will have the prettiest lawn in all of Palm beach , Florida."
Woman: No, thank you.
With a smile on his face, the little boy replaced the receiver. The store-owner, who was listening to all this, walked over to the boy.
Store Owner: "Son... I like your attitude; I like that positive spirit and would like to offer you a job."
Boy: "No thanks,
Store Owner: But you were really pleading for one.
Boy: No Sir, I was just checking my performance at the job I already have. I am the one who is working for that lady I was talking to!"
This is what we call "Self-Appraisal"
4.
Would you please occupy
my room for the night?
One stormy night many
years ago, an elderly man and his wife entered the lobby of a small hotel in
Philadelphia. Trying to get out of the rain, the couple approached the front
desk hoping to get some shelter for the night. "Could you possibly give us
a room here?" the husband asked. The clerk, a friendly man with a winning
smile, looked at the couple and explained that there were three conventions in
town. "All of our rooms are taken," the clerk said. "But I can't
send a nice couple like you out into the rain at one o'clock in the morning.
Would you perhaps be willing to sleep in my room? It's not exactly a suite, but
it will be good enough to make you folks comfortable for the night." When
the couple declined, the young man pressed on. "Don't worry about me; I'll
make out just fine," the clerk told them. So the couple agreed. As he paid
his bill the next morning, the elderly man said to the clerk, "You are the
kind of manager who should be the boss of the best hotel in the United States New York New York
5.
Being a Messiah in Life: A doctor’s story:
Newspaper
columnist George Plagenz once told the story of a young doctor who delivered a
baby into a poverty-stricken family in Montana. The child had one cruelly
deformed leg. He also had difficulty breathing. "The other children will
call him 'Limpy'," the doctor thought. "His life will be miserable.
If I don't do anything for his breathing, he will die. Wouldn't that be
better?" he asked himself. Then he remembered his Hippocratic oath and
began blowing into the baby's mouth. Soon the child's lungs were acting
normally and he gave his first cry.
Several
years later the doctor's daughter and son-in-law were killed in an auto
accident. The doctor's ten-year-old granddaughter was left an orphan. He took
her in. One day the child was stricken with a crippling and incurable
condition. The doctor learned there was a young doctor in the Midwest
who had been getting excellent results in the treatment of this particular
disease. He took his granddaughter to see the doctor.
The young physician was lame. He was the deformed
baby into whose mouth the older doctor had breathed 35 years before. Because of
his own infirmity, the young doctor had specialized in this crippling disease.
The treatment on the older doctor's grandchild was successful and the little
girl was returned to normal health.
From Fr.
Tony’s collection:
6. Shakespeare
and Jesus.
It was the 19th century British essayist Mr. Charles Lamb
who moved the 17th century playwright William Shakespeare from his undeserved
obscurity to the limelight of fame. Charles Lamb was once involved in a
discussion of the question, who is the greatest literary genius of all time?
Two names finally emerged: William Shakespeare and Jesus of Nazareth. Lamb put
an end to the debate when he said: “I’ll tell you the difference between these
two men. If Shakespeare walked into this room right now, we would all rise to
greet him, but if Christ came in, we would all fall down and worship.” There is
the essential difference between the Man from Nazareth and all other great
people you can think of. Jesus Christ is God and all others, no matter what
their deeds, are but fools strutting on the stage for a brief time and then
exiting. Today’s gospel describes who Jesus really is and what the unique
conditions for Christian discipleship are.
7. The
Witness Of History:
In 1896, after fifteen centuries, Athens renewed the Olympic
Games, thus fulfilling the dream of Baron Pierre de Coubertin of France. You
can imagine how proud the Greeks were to host the first modern Olympics. You
can also imagine how disappointed they were at their athletes' lack of success
in event after event. The last competition was the marathon. Greece's entrant
was named Louis, a shepherd without competitive background. He'd trained alone
in the hills near his flock. When the race started, Louis was far back in the
pack of marathoners. But as the miles passed he moved up steadily. One by one
the leaders began to falter. The Frenchman fell in agony. The hero from the
United States had to quit the race. Soon, word reached the stadium that a lone
runner was approaching the arena, and the emblem of Greece was on his chest! As
the excitement grew, Prince George of Greece hurried to the stadium entrance
where he met Louis and ran with him to the finish line.In this sports tale we
have something of the history of the human race. Most historical figures make
their impact, achieve a measure of fame and have books written about them, but
as the years go by they begin to fade. With Jesus Christ, however, one finds
quite the opposite phenomena! Christ started from way back in the pack. He was
born in relative obscurity, never had many followers, wrote no books. He died
young, was buried in a borrowed grave, and you'd think he'd be quickly
forgotten. But, no! His reputation has grown so that today he is worshiped on
every continent and has more followers than ever before. Sixteen times has his
picture been on the cover of Time magazine, and his sayings have been
translated into more than 200 languages. Consider: Socrates taught for forty
years, Plato for fifty, and Aristotle, forty. Jesus Christ only taught for
three years. Yet which has influenced the world more, one hundred thirty years
of classical thought or three years of Christ's? In the Library of Congress
there are 1,172 reference books on William Shakespeare, 1,752 on George Washington,
2,319 on Abe Lincoln, and 5,152 on Jesus Christ. Perhaps H. G. Wells best
summed up the runaway difference in interest. "Christ," he wrote,
"is the most unique person of history. No man can write a history of the
human race without giving first and foremost place to the penniless teacher of
Nazareth." From poverty and obscurity to teacher to death on the cross, to
ascended Lord - Jesus Christ is the growing figure of history. He is unique,
for while all others decrease, he increases - until, as the Bible predicts,
"To him every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord." Today’s gospel reveals his true identity and describes what one
must do to follow.
8. What
does Jesus mean to us?
Founder of a religion like Buddha and Confucius?
Revolutionary Jewish reformer? One of the great teachers? Son of God and
personal savior? This can perhaps be broken down into other questions:
"How do I really see Jesus? Is Jesus a living experience for me, walking
with me, loving me, forgiving me, helping me and transforming my life and
outlook? What difference does Jesus make in my life? Have I really given my
life to him? Are there areas where I have excluded Him, where my life is not
noticeably different from the lives of those who see Jesus as irrelevant? Who
do we say that Jesus is in our daily life? Who do we say that He is when we are
in the presence of those who don't know him, those who aren't interested in
him? What does the way we live and behave say about who Jesus is? Is the joy,
the love, the peace that we find in Jesus reflected in the way we live our
lives? We are gathered here today in the name of Jesus. We have not come
together to celebrate a long past memorial for a merely good man who died long
ago. We are here to celebrate the death and resurrection of Christ, the
Messiah, our Lord and personal Savior in this Eucharistic celebration.
9. “Who
do you say that I am?”
On Sunday morning a man showed up at church with both of his
ears terribly blistered. So his pastor asked, "What happened to you
Jim?" Jim said: "I was lying on the couch watching a ball game on TV
while my wife was ironing nearby. I was totally engrossed in the game when she
went out, leaving the iron near the phone. The phone rang, and keeping my eyes
on the TV, I grabbed the hot iron and put it to my ear." "How
dreadful," gasped the pastor. "But how did the other ear get
burned?" "Well, you see, I'd no sooner hung up, the guy called
back!" He just didn't get it. Lots of folks never get it and never
understand how life really works, even at the simplest levels. That's why Jesus
is pressing his followers — and us with a challenging question in today’s
gospel: “Who do you say that I am?” (Msgr. Dennis Clarke)
10. The
Catholic general knowledge about the Bible and the Messiah:
A Sunday school teacher was telling the students of how the
walls of Jericho came down amazingly by the blowing of trumpets and shouts of
the people. Observing that Johnny was day-dreaming, the teacher asked him:
“Johnny who knocked down the walls of Jericho?” Johnny started shouting
furiously, "I didn't do it, I didn't do it!, and he quit the class in
protest. That evening the teacher met his parents in the park and spoke to
Johnny’s mother. She told her the story of what happened in the class and about
Johnny’s unreasonable outburst in the class. His mother said, "If my son
said he didn't do it, then he didn't do it! I trained him not to tell lies.” The
perplexed teacher asked Johnny’s mother if she could speak to the boy's father.
When she explained the incident to him he said: "Let's not fuss about
this. Just tell me how much it will cost to repair the walls and I'll write a
check."
11. What
happens when sermons become sleeping pills:
"I hope you didn't take it personally, Father," an
embarrassed woman said to her pastor after the Mass, "that my husband
walked out during your homily." "I did find it rather
disconcerting," the preacher replied. "It's not a reflection on you,
Father," she insisted. "Ralph has been walking in his sleep ever
since he was a child."
