Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint 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.”
Men’s thoughts are not God’s
1. Announce. Jesus is clear about what He must face. When He announces it to his disciples, He does not victimize himself, He speaks as someone who accepts what He has to go through. He tells them what is going to happen in order to prepare his disciples; and it is also a way to prepare himself to see what position He is in. If we know that we will be having a hard week, we shouldn’t victimize ourselves; it’s better to accept reality and realize that the hard moments of life must be faced, like Jesus did, and prepare those around you so that they might be your support system. Life is not a bed of roses. Success in life is built on failed attempts and difficult situations that you must face.
2) Obstacles: Peter’s thought can become yours: “No such thing shall ever happen.” But, things happen and must happen; you can’t escape hard, difficult moments. In this respect, you might find several types of “Peters”: the “Peter” who invites you to escape the reality that you must face; the “Peter” of drugs or alcohol; the “Peter” of habitually leaving home to get away from spouse and children, to have a good time and forget about responsibilities for a while; the “Peter” of filling time with work in order to “not think” about reality. Today Jesus comes to tell you that this leads to anxiety and confusion. St. Athanasius of Alexandria said, “What has not been assumed has not been redeemed”. Let Christ assume every bit of our unworthiness so we can participate in the redemption He guides us into.
3) Our conduct. You know you will have difficult moments, but your whole life will not be difficult. There will be different struggles in each stage of your life and sometimes you will overcome the hardship, and sometimes, you will have to face it and accept it; you cannot have everything in life. We must give up things in order to grow up and mature. It would be kind of ridiculous for a professional to go to work every day with his teddy bear and his favorite teenage T-shirt.
Your accomplishments will show you how you are doing, and your close friends will be the signal that will indicate how much you have grown. Face your troubles; carry your cross, don’t drag it. Life has its challenges, don’t try to escape them, you can overcome them with the help of God!
Never forget that something good is on the way!
God bless you, be with you and protect you in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
