Gospel: Matthew
16:21-27
Jesus began to show
his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders,
the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be
raised. Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him, “God forbid, Lord!
No such thing shall ever happen to you.” He turned and said to Peter, “Get
behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me.
You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”
Then Jesus said to
his disciples, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his
cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but
whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. What profit would there be for
one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?
Or what can one give
in exchange for his life? For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his
Father’s glory, and then he will repay all according to his conduct.”
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Reflection:
A man who was a
catholic in name only was being convinced by his friend to transfer to their religious
congregation. The man asked: Why should I transfer to your congregation? His
friend told him: The moment you transfer to us you will begin to live a life
free from worries and problems. So, he transferred to the new congregation and
after almost a year he even went through more worries and problems.
When Jesus told His
disciples that He will suffer greatly and be killed, Peter rebuked Him and
said: “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.” What was in
Peter’s mind when he said it? Perhaps, Peter thought that Jesus was already
immune from sufferings because He was God and He can do anything to avoid such
sufferings.
Like Peter,
sometimes this is also our mindset; we think that we are already immune from
sufferings. For the reason that we think that we already know Jesus as our
savior. Because we already attend Holy Mass read the bible and do good things
to our fellowmen. Consequently, we are already immune form sufferings and from
carrying our own cross?
However, the testing
of our faith is in suffering and in carrying our own cross. We will not fully
comprehend the very important role of Jesus in our lives if we will not pass
through suffering and the humps and bumps of life.
Let us remember that before Gold becomes a
precious piece of jewelry it is purified by intense fire. And before a diamond
becomes an expensive piece of gem it first goes through a lot of cutting and
refining. Our faith too is tested by constant refining and is purified by the
fire of sufferings.
Therefore, let us
not wonder if we suffer, let us not question God if we have failures in life.
Instead, let us remain steadfast in our faith, the more that we suffer the
stronger that we should cling to Him. The more failures and problems we have
the more hopeful we should become that God would soon rescue us. - Marino J. Dasmarinas
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