True faith becomes the bed rock, the foundation on which the Church of Jesus Christ is built, a pathway to heaven.ĭear friends in Christ, our true identity of Jesus as the Messiah shall lead us to enter into heaven, for this divine revelation strengthens our faith and makes us live according to the Will of God. And because his strong faith has led him to know Jesus as the Saviour, Jesus would then leave in his hands the keys to the gate of heaven. He then went on to ask the disciples themselves, who they know him to be, and Peter gave the true identity of Jesus, "you are the Christ, the son of the Living God", an answer for which Jesus was very happy and called Peter blessed because of this divine revelation. These are all mistaken identities based on their popularity. In the Gospel reading of today, Jesus asks his disciples who people know him to be, and the disciples mentioned the names of three very popular personalities at that time: John the Baptist, Elijah and Jeremiah. Secondly let us strive to offer ourselves as living sacrifices to God and do before Him what is good, what is pleasing and what is perfect, total self giving to Him, that He welcomes us in His heavenly kingdom, Amen. May Christ Jesus continue to strengthen us in carrying our daily crosses. ![]() Endured in faith, the end shall be Joy in ChristJesus who endured a lot of suffering for our sake. ![]() So when suffering comes to us in different forms: sickness death loss of jobs, homelessness, wars and others, let us accept them in faith aware that our master underwent the same. We have not to avoid the cross but rather to embrace and carry it here on earth, losing our earthly selves in order to gain our true lives in heaven. Dear friends, God has chosen a different path to save us and we can only share in carrying His cross in order to share in His glory, as the saying goes "there is no resurrection without good Friday". ![]() This expectation of Peter is the human way of thinking, not God's, who sacrificed His only Son Jesus Christ to suffer and die for us on the cross, a shameful death, and because of that human way of thinking Jesus called him satan. He cannot accept a saviour who is weak, who will be humiliated and die, rather he expects the Messiah to be as powerful as the Roman rulers of that time, and he would be among the powerful ones since he is within the inner cycle. Peter completely misunderstands the mission of Christ, as perhaps could some of us. He calls Jesus aside and remonstrate with Him, telling him "God forbid, this cannot happen to you ". Today Jesus reveals to His disciples His mission, which entails suffering grievously, dying and rising after the third day, something that Peter could not stomach. As we start back the new academic year, find time every day, if only for 10 minutes to be quiet in the presence of God. Make decisions about your faith and you will find it much more empowering. We can drift on saying our prayers being good and never heading anywhere in our Christian life. But then the holiday gave me time to recharge.Īlso with the Gospel. As I get older I find I am slowing down a bit. This can be very frustrating, debilitating and annoying. Because quicker than you expect things begin to mount up and you can feel overwhelmed. Not making, or not being able to make decisions in life can be very frustrating. Today's Gospel challenges us to make decisions. If anyone would like a visit, or to come and discuss anything, you know where I am. Thanks to Fr Boniface for his work and you for taking care of him. Now good to be back with the familiar and with my family of St James again. ![]() I hope you also got an opportunity to rest and be with loved ones. A change, a rest, time for prayer and to view things from another angle. Good to go away and have a break and meet many friends.
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