Daily Mass Reflections - 9/28
“With Him we shall always live, having become sons of God through Him; with Him we shall always rejoice, having been restored by His blood.” ~ Saint Cyprian of Carthage
In the newly built-out Teen Life Room at the church where I work evenings there exists hanging on the wall a painting of Jesus, head bowed and wearing a crown of thorns, his face riddled with anguish and pain. Written in magic marker around this painting, the young members of the Teen Life Group have written one word descriptors, blurbs and other assorted thoughts wherein they convey who and what Jesus is and means to them.
Words such as “The One”, “My Dad”, “My Best Friend”, “My Everything” and “My Savior” appear written in different penmanship around the silhouette of Jesus’ face. Others went into even more detail, writing such things as “My other half who I cannot live without”, “The fire in my heart” and “You are my Lord and Savior - without you I am nothing.” One particularly self-aware and wise-beyond-his-years teen added perhaps my favorite remark: “You save me from myself ~ Thank you”.
From the mouths of babes.
In today’s Gospel (Luke 9:18-22) we encounter Jesus asking his disciples “Who do the crowds say that I am?” After the Apostles bring Jesus up to speed pertaining to the latest word on the street and other assorted water cooler type scuttle-but making its way about, Jesus then proceeds to ask the Apostles, his most beloved of friends and those who knew him best, “But who do you say that I am?”
Peter, as usual, was the first man into the fire and quickly replied “The Christ of God.” Jesus would then go on to foreshadow what would be his fate, “....suffering greatly and being rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the scribes, being killed and on the third day being raised.”
Truth is, much like the youngsters in the Teen Life Group, answer to this seminal question that Jesus asks each and every one of us, “But who do you say that I am?” could no doubt illicit as many different answers as there are people in the room. But make no mistake; Jesus is the man who died for our sins and was raised on the 3rd day. Once you come to grips with that fact and your life is centered around it, everything changes.
Jesus IS the Christ of God. Because of this fact, we have hope. Because of this fact, we are filled with the gift of the Holy Spirit which guides us and consecrates us in the truth.
There is hardly any doubt that Jesus, and his Blessed Mother for that matter, continue to suffer greatly as they gaze upon the fallen and broken world in which we live. Yet we know that the gates of Hell will not prevail and that Holy Spirit will guide her Church through the trials and tribulations of this fleeting world as discussed in today’s 1st Reading (Ecclesiastes 3:1-11).
“Blessed be the Lord, my rock, my mercy and my fortress, my stronghold, my deliverer, my shield in whom I trust.” ~ Psalm 144
