Reflection for Sunday, September 3; Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time; Matthew 16:21-27

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