The Cross and the Crown

Jer 20:7-9; Rom 12:1-2; Mt 16:21-27

Today’s Gospel is a continuation of last Sunday’s. Peter had confessed that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God. This confession is followed by another important statement about Jesus. This Messiah was to suffer a lot, be killed and raise from the dead on the third day. The disciples of Jesus never taught of such an ending for a person whom they loved so much and did so much good. They expected him to be victorious in every situation. There were moments were Jesus showed his glory: his sermon on the mount was accepted by many, the multiplication of the bread, the will of the people who wanted to crown him king. Because of this Peter reacted negatively to Jesus’ words.

According to their Old Testament concept, the Messiah had to save the people from their sins and give them a new life. The way Jesus presented was unacceptable to them. Peter wanted to avoid suffering.

The Word of God, like a coin, has two faces: the cross and the crown of glory. If we try to live one side of it, as Christians, we simply live an illusion. Jesus told us: “Come to me all of you who are weary and heavy laiden, and I will give you rest” (Mt 11:28). This word encourages us and shows that suffering has a meaning.

The Word of God helps us not to fall into the trap of the world presenting us with a cake full if icing sugar. But this is not real life. If we want to follow Jesus we shall face suffering that will lead us to glory.

Who is Jesus of Nazareth?

Readings: Isa 22:19-23; Ps 138; Rom 1:33-36; Mt 16:13-20

As Jesus journeys towards Caesarea Philippi he poses the his disciples the perennial question: “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” (Mt 16:13). They give their answers accordingly. This shows us a very important thing: Jesus expected his disciples to be in contact with what was happening around them and how people were reacting to His ministry. The same question is being asked to us today and once again Jesus expects us to known what the contemporary world thinks of Him.

Undoubtedly, many is being said in books, videos, internet, music, art etc... about the person of Jesus. Not all is in agreement with what the Gospels reveal to us and we are bound to know what others think of Jesus that we might be able to proclaim Him as He really is.

But for our evangelization to be genuine and fruitful this implies another question to be answered: “But who do you say that I am?” (Mk 16:15). Jesus asks this question to us because He wants us to know whom He is. We cannot proclaim whom we do not know for Christianity does not preach an ideology nor a philosophy, but our good news is a person: JESUS whom Peter declares to be “the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (Mk 16:16).

We cannot come to such a deep knowledge of Jesus without the aid of the heavenly Father: “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in Heaven” (Mt 16:17). At best, with our human intelligence we can come to the conclusion that Jesus was a hero, an ideal man, a man who died for his ideals, a revolutionary etc... But we need the Holy Spirit whom the Father gives us (Lk 11:13) to reveal to us and convince in the depths of our hearts that Jesus is indeed the Incarnate God, our Lord and Saviour. So let us find time to pray and meditate the Gospels and thereby letting the Holy Spirit to show us who Jesus is and lead us into experiencing Him. Such was the manner in which man and woman like Francis and Claire of Assisi, Therese of Lisieux and Charles de Foucauld. And if they experienced a success, why shall not we?

Peter teaches us that our understanding of the person of Jesus is gradual and not without opposition. In as much as he understood that Jesus was the Messiah, that was quite some step ahead but his understanding of the Messiah was imbued with its Old Testament understanding which portrayed a glorious Messiah. Indeed, Jesus is the glorious one but his glory lies on the cross! It is a crucified Messiah that Peter and the other disciples could not accept! Jesus insisted that “the Son of Man must suffer” (Mk 8:31) and thereby one could understand the person and ministry of Jesus in the light of the Suffering Servant Songs in Isaiah (Isa 40-55). For this He was rebuked by Peter. This costed Peter a harsh rebuke by Jesus: “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not on the side of God, but of men” (Mk 16:23).

This shows us the importance the cross played in Jesus life and mission: suffering was the Father’s will for Jesus. This will was his daily food and His love for the Father was to such an extent that no one could turn Him away from that will. In this light one can understand why Peter is admonished to “get behind” Jesus. This means that the moment he refused that Jesus had to suffer, as an imperative of the Father’s will, Peter stopped being a disciple... he stopped following Jesus, he stopped being on God’s side but became like Satan, the one who opposes the Father’s will. We too are called to be humble enough to keep our place that we might come to know who Jesus is for us!

As His disciples, Jesus calls us to enter into a deep relationship with Him that is marked by the cross: “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Mk 8:34). This is what Jesus means when he says that one should loose his life for His sake and be saved (Mk 8:35). To die to self daily means to say “No” to whatever Jesus said “No” on the cross and to say “Yes” to whatever Jesus said “Yes” on the cross! this leads us to take up our daily crosses by transcending our difficult earthly situations and, seeing them in God’s light, understand them as God’s will for us.

But only a personal adhesion and a passionate love for Jesus can help us to come to this. A love that is daily nourished and strengthened by receiving Jesus in the Eucharist accompanied by moments of Eucharistic adoration. This is what is meant by Jesus’ demand “follow me”. St. Francis of Assisi is like an icon that encourages us to follow Jesus on the way to the cross by contemplating this “Poverello of Assisi”, a man whose heart burned with love for Jesus to the point that he was completely transformed in his Crucified Love: Jesus, the one whom Mary followed unto the cross and whose perfect disciple she was as she now fully contemplates Him in his resurrected heavenly glory!.

Being different in one flock

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time


Is 56:1. 6-7; Ps 67; Rom 11:13-15. 29-32; Mt 15:21-28

The liturgical readings which the Church proclaims on the 20th Sunday of the liturgical year take as their central theme the fact that Christ came for everybody. Nobody is excluded from his loving embrace. As Saint Paul explicitly makes clear, for him there is no Jew or Greek, Chrisitan or non-Chrisitan, but all are God’s children. His grace has done away with the factions and barriers that may keep us apart, propelling us to build bridges rather than walls.

From our experience, we know that it is very easy to discriminate between persons to serve our best interests. But this is attitude is not conconant with that of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus did not come into the world for some section of the world’s people. He endorsed no discriminatory attitude, nor gave privileges to some while excluded others. Jesus had the courage to transcend the culture of his mileu which was one imbued by separations, categories and discriminations due to class, social role and religious prestige.

This break-through clearly emerges in this Sunday’s Matthean text wherein we see Jesus conversing with somebody with whom – according to Jewish mentality – one could not enter into dialogue because of cultural, sexual and religious differences. This ushers the realization that, following Jesus’ example, we should never exclude those who are culturally, socially or religiously different from us.

This inclusive attitude of the Nazarene is in a way prefigured in the first reading from the prophet Isaiah which speaks of God’s temple as “the house of prayer for all the peoples”, whereby nobody is excluded from the call to worship God because God is the there for everybody. Thank God that our Lord does not reason the way we do! He is ready to accept and embrace even those who reject him. Just as the Word of God was also proclaimed to the Gentiles even though they were not considered by the Jews to be part of the people of God, so today, those whom we consider unworthy have a place in the heart of God.

However, it is very encouraging that we remember that, while God calls everybody to himself, He does not request that everybody responds in the same manner. He allows for a unity in diversity which is creative, dynamic and highly enriching.

Is God a slot machine?

19th Sunday in Ordinary time

1 Kgs 19:9a. 11-13a; Ps 84; Rom 9:1-5; Mt 14:22-33

Among the initial verses of the Gospel text which the Church proclaims on the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time is a striking phrase which speaks of Jesus as going “up the mountain by himself to pray” (Mt 14:22-23). The next verse informs us that “when evening came, he was there alone”, showing us that Jesus’ prayer time was a rather long period and not some mere fleeting moments. All this convinces us that spending time in communion with God was an activity so dear to Jesus’ heart.

Perhaps this intimate and lengthy tête-à-tête between Son and Father rooted in love, contrasts sharply with Peter’s short petitionary prayer, inspired by fear and self-interest, which surfaces towards the end of this episode. Petrified by the strong wind and the mighty black waters beneath his feet, Peter screamed for survival and thundered: “Lord, save me!” (Mt 14:30). This reminds us of the sad fact that for most Christians, prayer seems to be an activity which has its place only at times when problems and difficulties crop up and takes the unique form of imploring for divine help and assistance. Within such a narrow mentality, God is envisaged as a slot machine, whom we seek only when we are in need, rather than as our Beloved Creator who delights in relating to his human creatures.

Jesus’ loving and trustful relationship with God the Father teaches us that Christian prayer is not so much a question of reciting words but of entering into a personal and profound relationship with God. The example of Saint Francis of Assisi beautifully illustrates this view. The first biographer of Francis, Thomas of Celano, described Francis as “living prayer”. “Francis did not so much pray,” he wrote, “as he himself became totally prayer.” This idea helps us realize that Francis did not recite many prayers but rather he lived in a deep relationship with God – he became prayer. “Prayer is the expression of intimacy with God and ultimately must shape the way we live our lives and what we become among the living” (Ilia Delio O.S.F., in “Franciscan prayer”).

This discourse on prayer reminds us of what Pope John Paul II says on the subject in his Apostolic Letter Novo Millenio Ineunte, wherein he explains that “prayerer can progress, as a genuine dialogue of love, to the point of rendering the person wholly possessed by the divine Beloved, resting filially within the Father’s heart. This lived experience is a journey totally sustained by grace, which however demands an intense spiritual commitment and is no stranger to painful purifications (the “dark night”). But it leads, in various possible ways, to the indescribable joy experienced by the mystics as “nuptial union” (33).

May this Sunday’s Gospel verses (in which, as the above suggests, we can decipher two approaches to prayer) help us to refrain from narrowing down our prayer life to the making of supplications and petitions, and initiate us into the mentality of considering our prayer life in the more mature context of a relationship with the One whom our heart loves! Lastly, may the above considerations bring about a renewed commitment for everyday prayer in the heart of every believer!