Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted on by Patrick Leyden

Peter’s confession of faith leads to Jesus’ first prediction of His coming death, followed by His invitation to follow in His footsteps, carrying His cross. This is the core of the gospel. Because Jesus is the Son of God, His death and Resurrection gives us life. Because we are saved through Him, we must cling to Him and imitate Him, even if it means carrying a cross and laying down our lives.

Matthews Gospel emphasizes the role of Peter more than any other Gospel. He is the spokesperson for the other disciples and gets personally involved during challenging encounters. Peter is praised as the recipient of divine revelation when he proclaims Jesus as “the Messiah, the Son of the Living God”: He is named by Jesus as the foundation of the Church, and Jesus gives him special authority within His Church. The keys to the Kingdom and the power to bind and loose refer to a special teaching authority given to Peter for the sake of the Church.

However, the faith of Peter is not yet complete.

He did not recognize that the Messiah and Son of God was to suffer and give up His life. He had not yet learned that disciples must not only recognize who Jesus is, but must also take up the cross and lay down their own lives.

When Jesus says: “Get behind me”, He could be telling Peter and us to follow in His footsteps.

Follow me to Calvary because that is the path to resurrection and eternal life. That is why Jesus came as Messiah to bring us eternal life.

God Bless.

Monsignor Powell

 

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time

Posted on by Cassie

In today’s Gospel Jesus asks: “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” His disciples gave the latest poll readout of that day.  However, Jesus is interested in a more profound question concerning His identity.  He asks: “Who do you say that I am?”

It is only by divine revelation and inspiration that Peter could declare the true identity of Jesus: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.”

To confirm the accuracy of Peter’s Confession, Jesus made several significant and symbolic statements.

  1. He declared Peter blest for responding to the Revelation he was given.
  2. He conferred a new name on Peter—He hence forth be called “Rock”.
  3. He promised to make Peter the foundation on which he would build his Church.
  4. He gave Peter the authority and power to heal and forgive.

This is one of those classic eternal questions all of us have to confront: “and you, who do you say that I am?”  It is a personal question that demands a personal response from each of us. It is a critical question that calls for us to make a commitment one way or the other.   It is a decisive question whose answer will determine our entire destiny.

If Jesus is truly God’s Son, we confess that and live accordingly, or else we deny it and do our own thing.  We can not escape the challenge given us.  Either we declare His divine identity in human form and follow Him, or we denounce Him as a phony and find someone else.  Is He a nice guy who said a lot of nice things, or is He your Lord and Savior, who gives you peace.  Is He just another myth, or is he your Master and Lord who gives meaning to your life. Who do you say Jesus is?

God Bless

Msgr. Powell