Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter, Apostle - The Most Important Question

When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" They replied, "Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter said in reply, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus said to him in reply, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

Introductory Prayer: Lord, you know how much I need you and depend on you for everything. You know my weakness and my faults. I put all my confidence in your love and mercy in my daily actions. I trust in your power, your promise and your grace.

 

Petition: Lord, let me acknowledge you with my words and actions.

1. Opinion Polls and Private Certitudes: People give all sorts of answers to the question of who Jesus is. No figure in history has provoked more comment or more debate than Jesus Christ. And it is fair to say that in every case, how we answer the question of who Christ is determines how we live our lives: the values and moral convictions we will have, the hope we have for the life to come, the charity and service we live now in our daily lives. All of this is inspired by the stance we take on the person of Jesus. “Who do you say that I am?” is a question that necessarily involves a commitment on our part. The answer to this question requires a change in our attitudes and behavior.

2. The Life-changing Moment: For Peter, this was a moment of true openness to the grace of the Holy Spirit. He grasped in a moment that Christ was no mere prophet or enlightened teacher of moral truths, but something much more. He was the Christ, that is, the Savior. And not only Messiah, he was the Son of the Living God—Jesus was equal to God in all things. This profession of faith would change Peter’s life from that moment on. In the Creed, we profess the same faith as Peter did. Every time we receive the Eucharist, we join our response to that of Peter: We believe you are the Son of God, and there is no salvation by any other name. What changes does this faith require of me? Can I continue to be the same as before?

3. A New Name and a New Mission: Peter’s profession of faith was no simple intellectual response to a question. It was the taking of a position, a definitive stance before God and before the world. Peter embraced the truth about Christ, and in return, Christ entrusted him with the care of the Church. He would be “Rock,” the foundation of his Church, and Christ offered him the guarantee that the Church would persevere forever. When we profess our faith, Christ gives us a task also. We are made “apostles” and sent out as “ambassadors of Christ” to the world. Our stance before this truth has consequences: We must be consistent with our faith each day.

Conversation with Christ: Lord, teach me not only to acknowledge you with my mind, but to embrace the truth that you are the Son of the Living God with all my life, words, and actions. Let the conviction I have become a way of life, so that I can give witness to you before all men.

Resolution: I will examine my life and evaluate what sort of witness I give to my faith that Christ is the Son of the Living God.

Tuesday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time - The Journey Away from Self

Jesus and his disciples left from there and began a journey through Galilee, but he did not wish anyone to know about it. He was teaching his disciples and telling them, "The Son of Man is to be handed over to men and they will kill him, and three days after his death he will rise." But they did not understand the saying, and they were afraid to question him. They came to Capernaum and, once inside the house, he began to ask them, "What were you arguing about on the way?" But they remained silent. They had been discussing among themselves on the way who was the greatest. Then he sat down, called the Twelve, and said to them, "If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all." Taking a child he placed it in their midst, and putting his arms around it he said to them, "Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the one who sent me."

Introductory Prayer: Lord Jesus, I believe in you, present and interested in my life. I believe you await my prayer to guide my heart, my visits to the Eucharist to strengthen my will, and my challenges to help my surrender. I trust you will give your life to me in exchange for my self-denial. I love you and want to love you more by embracing and living out your will. Mother Mary, teach me to say with you, “Let it be done unto me.”

 

Petition: “Speak Lord, your servant is listening”

1. Apostolic Training: This was one journey Jesus chose to do in secret. Why? Because he wanted to dedicate all his attention and efforts to teaching his apostles the deepest and most important secret of his life: He must die! All that they had lived so far was thus incomplete, merely a preparation for the final act of his mission: the consummation of his love, his total immolation on the cross. Would they understand the need for the seed to die before rising to new life? How hard it would be for them to listen! He was their Lord, the powerful, Messianic king coming to free them and establish his kingdom of truth and love. They still imagined scenarios of new victories, cures, defeat of demons, the silencing of their opposition…. How far their dreams were from Jesus’ message! We too have our own desires and needs. Can we detach ourselves from these dreams long enough to understand in prayer his will and his plan of salvation for us?

2. Slow Learners: Not only did they “not understand the saying,” but “they were afraid to question him.” In other words, they did not want to know. How often our communication problem is not something intellectual, but rather something of the will! Our desire is more to “get our way,” “make our point” or “affirm ourselves.” Learning Christ’s way requires that we in some way unlearn our own ways. “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). This explains why no one can be neutral before Christ; he challenges us to change our life. Jesus occasioned the fierce opposition of those who would ultimately put him to death. How open am I to his challenges? Do I listen in prayer in order to respond with a docile but firm “Amen”?

3. The Hardest Lesson: Like little boys caught in the act, the apostles don’t dare admit that they have been arguing about who among them is greatest. Not only do they fail “to listen” to Jesus; to the contrary, they are busy asserting their will. What would it take to teach them this most difficult but vital truth? So Jesus, with a father’s love, holds a child before them and begins the lesson anew. This small child is the greatest! To be last, to serve, to give your life makes you great, since this is how God comes to us. Only the sight of Jesus crucified would burn this lesson more deeply on their hearts. Am I learning this lesson of sacrificial love to become the greatest I can become?

Conversation with Christ: Dear Lord, open my heart to listen to your will for me. Free me from my own self-love, ideas and dreams. Teach me to die to myself as I enter into prayer and as I enter into work. Help me to work, pray and live so that you and your love can rise up in my life in place of the poverty of my own qualities and efforts.

Resolution: I will listen well before trying to offer my own thoughts or desires in prayer and in interacting with family and others, so better to hear the Lord.

Monday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time - Help My Unbelief

Jesus, Peter, James and John came down the mountain. When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and scribes arguing with them. Immediately on seeing Jesus, the whole crowd was utterly amazed. They ran up to him and greeted him. He asked them, "What are you arguing about with them?" Someone from the crowd answered him, "Teacher, I have brought to you my son possessed by a mute spirit. Wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive it out, but they were unable to do so." He said to them in reply, "O faithless generation, how long will I be with you? How long will I endure you? Bring him to me." They brought the boy to him. And when he saw him, the spirit immediately threw the boy into convulsions. As he fell to the ground, he began to roll around and foam at the mouth. Then he questioned his father, "How long has this been happening to him?" He replied, "Since childhood. It has often thrown him into fire and into water to kill him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us." Jesus said to him, " ´If you can!´ Everything is possible to one who has faith." Then the boy´s father cried out, "I do believe, help my unbelief!" Jesus, on seeing a crowd rapidly gathering, rebuked the unclean spirit and said to it, "Mute and deaf spirit, I command you: come out of him and never enter him again!" Shouting and throwing the boy into convulsions, it came out. He became like a corpse, which caused many to say, "He is dead!" But Jesus took him by the hand, raised him, and he stood up. When he entered the house, his disciples asked him in private, "Why could we not drive it out?" He said to them, "This kind can only come out through prayer."



Introductory Prayer:Lord, I find it so easy to repeat the words of the man in this Gospel passage: “I do believe, help my unbelief!” This is my life and my relationship with you–belief and unbelief scattered throughout the day. Help me tilt the scale towards more belief in you and your action in my life while ridding my life of unbelief.

Petition:Jesus Christ, give me a strong faith in you and your Church. Let me never doubt in your love for me.

1. What are you arguing about?The disciples could not help the boy. Instead of going out to find Christ for the solution to the problem they stood around and discussed the problem with others who could not help either. How do I react to difficult situations and problems in my life? Do I turn to prayer for solutions, or do I have more confidence in my own problem-solving abilities? Perhaps my track record with prayer is poor. I doubt that God really hears my prayers because I never see them answered. Christ asks for at least an implicit act of faith for all his miracles. If I do not believe in the power of prayer, how can I expect and demand a response? How fervent is my prayer?

2. How long will I endure you? Christ’s patience is infinite. We test his patience everyday so many times and in so many ways. Sometimes we do it in ways that we are not even aware of. This cry from his heart arises not because he is threatening to stop being patient. This cry comes forth because he wants us to trust more in him and his action in our lives and stop wasting time away from him. Life is short, very short and eternity is coming.

3. I do believe, help my unbelief! Our earthly life is a combination of a tremendous amount of grace from God and a little collaboration on our part. Is faith hard for you? Ask for more! Is doubt in some element of what the Church teaches tearing you apart? Take it to prayer. Christ is demanding, but always helping. Never will we be tested beyond the strength of his grace that is always available to us.

Dialogue with Christ: Lord, never let me sit back and glory in past victories. There is so much good you want me to do in my life. I do not have time to waste. I know you are gently urging me to do more for you. Sometimes I hear you; most of the time I do not. Please continue being patient with me, but never let me become too patient with myself.

Resolution: Today I will dedicate myself to dealing with a difficult issue or problem in my life that has seemed impossible to resolve. I will deal with it by taking it to Christ in prayer with a lot of confidence in his response.

Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time - A Step beyond Justice

Jesus said to his disciples: "You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for and eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one to him as well. If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic, hand him your cloak as well. Should anyone press you into service for one mile, go with him for two miles. Give to the one who asks of you, and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow. You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect."

Introductory Prayer: Lord, I wish to open my heart and let your Gospel message penetrate me and change my life. I believe that you love me and that you died for me; yet when tested by the demands of the Gospel, my faith and generosity waver. Nevertheless, once more I confess my faith in you and my determination to work to please you alone.

Petition: Jesus, teach me true charity!

1. Revenge or Justice. “An eye for an eye…” - Revenge has a tantalizing attraction. Oh, how we enjoy those movies where the down-and-out hero suddenly gets the upper hand, pays back all of the evil the villain has been inflicting on others, and justice prevails. But is this really justice? Jesus speaks clearly: “But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil.” Our virtue must go beyond that of the Scribes and the Pharisees.

2. Perfect Justice. Christ invites us to go beyond the “tit-for-tat” mentality: “When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one to him as well.” Jesus is not trying to teach us passivism; rather, he is inviting us to discover that love is the perfection of justice. Humility and forgiveness are the pillars of this radically new mentality. Only in the light of these can we hope to build true and enduring peace in the world, amongst those around us and even within ourselves.

3. Self-giving Love: Fulfillment of this attitude is not merely to avoid direct retaliations but rather to form a generous and magnanimous heart which knows how to give itself without ever giving up. Jesus gave not only his tunic and cloak, but all of his clothes to those who were to crucify him (cf. John 19:23). Jesus walked the extra mile, which brought him to the top of Calvary (cf. John 19:17). Jesus promised salvation to the criminal who asked him to remember him (cf. Luke 23:42-43).

Conversation with Christ:  Lord Jesus, you are God. You came down from heaven to teach me how to love, but I have such a hard time loving those around me and even loving myself sometimes. By your almighty grace, help me to be more like you, to forgive and to give myself to others so that I can help make their lives just a bit happier.

Resolution:  I will perform one small act of charity today: thinking or speaking well of someone, or offering myself to help someone.

Saturday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time - Climbing with Christ

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, "This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!" Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus. As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead could mean. Then they asked him, "Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?" He said to them, "Elijah is indeed coming first to restore all things. How then is it written about the Son of Man, that he is to go through many sufferings and be treated with contempt? But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written about him."

Introductory Prayer:Lord Jesus, I climb the mountain (meaning I am going to the place of encounter) to learn what real prayer is. Like the disciples who are humbled by how you pray, but are desirous to learn, I turn to you with trust. I want to set all things aside and seek only to please you during this time of prayer.

Petition: Lord, teach me to pray. 

1. Learning How to Be with Christ.   Imagine the time the three were to have alone with Christ, a time of sweeping consolation and light. First, it was a time to climb, to ascend with prayer, to make the arduous trip. Being changed by Christ does not come by just “hanging around” him, passively watching him work in the lives of others. We must fight to open doors for him to enter. Is our prayer a climb to reach God, or does it forever circle the base of the mountain, fearful of the effort, stuck in mediocre thoughts? Are we making deep acts of faith, hope and love to reach for the heights of union with him? Are we moving away from self-centeredness and earthly attachments towards a pure heart ready to receive the glory of God?

2. Getting That “Vision Thing.”   What does a heart given to God receive from God? It receives a mysterious revelation of God’s glory, of the temporal caught up in the eternal, of God’s awesome view of things. At the Transfiguration, Peter, James and John are given the complete picture. Christ reveals for a moment the glory of the things to come in the key of the things that have gone before. The three disciples, too, are given the vision of their mission as it is taken up into his. What a consolation this is: to see so clearly what God sees, to take away all doubt before so much human weakness! If we could experience what God holds in his heart, we would know the glory and honor for which we struggle and fight. We would read the next chapter of salvation history that we, in our faithful service, are writing together with Christ. Without prayer, without the effort to delve into God’s thoughts, we will never see this.

3. Christian Prayer Is about Fulfillment   Tabor teaches the disciple how to cultivate a living experience of Christ in prayer and to know what the fruits of proper prayer are. The first effect of fruitful prayer is the revelation of God’s glory, his true beauty. This speaks of the power from above that acts as a grace within. “Let us build three booths….” Those booths speak of the true longing for God which must be protected by habits of virtue and reflective prayer. The second effect is a revelation of God’s plan for us. God’s plan for humanity is so beautiful; our own vocation in life is also eminently beautiful. God’s plan may have its unexpected twists as we live it, but in as much as it is his plan and not our own, it is always beautiful. Third, fruitful prayer delivers a revelation of our destiny. Christ’s mission is only completely fulfilled in heaven. Our true home is in heaven, and under heaven’s power our heart’s desire is changed. This change transforms the present into a different type of faith experience. To have the wherewithal to win in this life, our ultimate victory must be set for heaven alone.

Conversation with Christ:Lord, without your influence acting in the depths of my interior life, my life will be forever empty. I make these words of the Veni Sancte Spiritus my own:

Light most blessed, shine with grace

in our heart’s most secret place,

fill your faithful through and through! 

Left without your presence here, 

life itself would disappear,

nothing thrives apart from you!

Resolution:I will fight in a special way any resistance to prayer, and I will strive to put into practice the resolutions that come from prayer.

Friday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time - The Transforming Power of the Cross

He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. And he said to them, "Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see that the kingdom of God has come with power." 

Introductory Prayer: O Lord, this day you wish to take away from me any false ideas about what it means to be your friend. I believe that by attending to the sacred message of your cross,  I can learn authentic love of you and your Kingdom. In your cross is an example of every virtue I need and every goal I wish to attain. In the cross there is hope, an all-powerful hope that transcends every human disappointment. I wish to carry my cross with joy as a token of my love and gratitude to you. 

Petition: Lord, make the cross a singular place of friendship with you in my life. 

1. Becoming Through Suffering: Most people move through the day with self-preservation and self-interest influencing their decision-making. Choosing a harder road can still be a self-interested affair, if people seek their own advancement in life. Christ’s message is not simply about a work ethic—sweating, toiling and sacrificing to be successful. The self-denial that is asked of a Christian goes deeper than that. It must reach into that place where we try to preserve ourselves and our most cherished desires. Nothing teaches Christ’s lesson better than the crosses that have surprised us, the crosses that were not planned or wanted. Every step with these crosses on our backs is true following, true loving, true salvation without delusion or bitterness. 

2. Following or Leading? One day Mother Teresa saw one of her sisters headed out into the streets with a long face. She called her over and said, “What did Jesus say, to carry the cross in front of Him or to follow Him?” The sister responded, smiling, “To follow Him.” Mother then asked, “Why are you trying to go ahead of Him?” (Mother Teresa: Come be My Light, p.221) “The cross of Christ” is not just the rightful assumption of the weight of a holy life, it is also an attitude. The wrong attitude can crush our spirits and make us suffer like a pagan: alone. Humble faith reveals the One we follow, who shows us the way, who sustains our hope, and who leads us to profound Christian joy. 

3. Sacrificial Love and Life Are Inseparable: Seeing the Kingdom in power is a consequence for those who suffer for Christ. Our Lord guarantees this: Love will never be defeated in this life or the next. Although they might seem to have suffered in vain, many saints saw the glory of the Lord in special moments during their life and in abundance after they passed to heaven. The incorrupt, the documented miracles of intercession, the great movement of spirituality in the Church—all these attest that God will never let love for him be separated from the coming of his Kingdom in power. 

Conversation with Christ: Lord, bring my soul to the cross without fear, trusting in its mysterious power to change me and the world around me. I should not withdraw from life when it wounds me. May I resolve in every low moment, when Christ asks for more from me, to live the resolution of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta: “A hearty ‘Yes’ to God, and a big smile for all” (Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light, p.217). 

Resolution: At night I will examine well my attitudes towards difficulties and ensure that they reflect the spirit of a true disciple.

Thursday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time - Can Christ Count on Me?

Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" And they answered him, "John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets." He asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered him, "You are the Messiah." And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him. Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things."

Introductory Prayer: Lord, reveal to me the awesome mystery of your person. In you is hidden my beginning. In you is hidden the mission for my life. In you is hidden my future happiness. Let me not measure the future by what I think I can do for you, but rather by what your power can do with my generosity. May this prayer convince me of the necessity of welcoming you daily through prayer, contemplation, and a sacramental life of grace and conversion.

Petition: Lord, grant me an experience of you strong enough to overcome all spiritual laziness and tepidity. 

1. Who Has Christ Been for You?Our prayer must lead us to respond to Christ’s question, “Who do you say that I am?” This is the only test, the only examination question we need to pass in life. We must reflect and respond to the question from this perspective: “Who has Christ been for you?” This question does not so much define Christ, but the one who answers it. What experiences have we had of him? What have we been learning about Christ personally, through experiences that we cannot have known by solemn definitions, by routine external piety or by what others say? Christ’s history and our personal history must intertwine to become a single chapter which we both share.

2. Who Have You Been for Christ?If I have little to say as far as my firsthand knowledge of Jesus, if my interior experiences have been eclipsed by a mundane and materialistic spirit, I must take Christ’s question to the next level: “Who have I been for Christ?” Who I have been for Christ will be determined largely by who I have been for him in prayer. The “inner Christ” is known only by those to whom it is revealed. It will not happen by a merely flesh-and-blood approach, nor by just going with the flow of human events. Peter’s interior life was fertile ground for the Father. His testimony was not luck, but was a divine intervention in his soul from which his faith drew its strength. “For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven” (Matthew 16:17). May I seek in a special way the grace of greater sensitivity to let my interior life of prayer define me and shape my character.

3. Can Christ Count on Me?Poor Peter! In one moment he is revealing the thoughts of the Father, in the next, Satan’s. Peter’s living experience of Christ is the target of Satan’s attempts to break his faith. Christ’s suffering will be the pledge that the faith of the apostle will not fail: “I have prayed for you….” (Luke 22:32). Ultimately Christ’s prayer would prevail: Peter is reborn on Pentecost, fearlessly accepting and launching the mission of the Church. A strong interior foundation in Christ ultimately leads to one last reality check of the spiritual life: Can Christ build on me because I am built on him? Christ’s fidelity will uphold me if I stay in the battle, if I hold firm and don’t let the reality of my falls keep me from advancing. Satan cannot break my faith if I keep fighting, and for this I always have to have new goals, to begin fresher, better and more generously than before.

Conversation with Christ: Lord, according to the riches of your glory, grant that I may be strengthened in my inner being with power through your Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in my heart through faith. Being rooted and grounded in love, I pray that I may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that I may be filled with all the fullness of you (cf. Ephesians 3:16-20)

Resolution:I will spend some time before our Lord in the Eucharist today, asking that he deepen my experience of him.