Twenty Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Wouldn’t life be so much better if we could all live in peace and happiness? But relationships are not like that. Even the most secure and safe nuclear families – individuals raised in the same household, for whom love may be given – have challenges with one another. The church is the same. In the face of this, Matthew gives us some practical steps to follow. Only when we experience the new life of the resurrection will every tear be wiped away, and relationships restored. Until that time, we doe the best we can, motivated by love and guided by the wisdom of Christ.
Twenty Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Today’s reading presents another interesting conversation between Jesus and Peter. Not only is Peter unwilling to go to Jerusalem where suffering awaits, he doesn’t want Jesus to go either. Jesus has already said that he will endure suffering and death, and now he is prepared to undergo his fate. This encounter with Peter allows him to teach us what it takes to follow him and what it means for our salvation. Taking up our cross may not lead to the kind of death and suffering that Jesus endured, but it does mean that whatever our cross might be, it will be the way to gain eternal life with Jesus.
Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time
The Church has long regarded this passage as the foundational moment for the establishment of the ministry of the pope as head of the Church. The symbol of keys appears in the papal crest, the sign both of governance and of leadership that is rooted in the person of Jesus Christ. Peter, the rock, symbolizes that the human community that is the Church, rests on the permanence of its divine foundation. Although Jesus commissions Peter to a ministry of reconciliation, that same mandate is given to all his disciples. The strength of the Church depends on a communion of love, justice, and mercy.
Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
The encounters between Jesus and Peter are always intriguing. Peter’s humanness appeals to us. In today’s story, he wants to walk on the water like Jesus, but loses his nerve and begins to sink. There may be something of Peter in each of us. Deep in our heart we want to follow the Lord, yet there are moments when we vacillate and wonder if we can believe everything the Lord teaches and everything he asks of us. In those moments we can lose our nerve, or renew our faith and cry out, “Lord, save me.” And he always does.