Gospel Mark 8:27-35
Jesus and his disciples set out for the villages of Caesarea Philippi. Along the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” They said in reply, “John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others one of the prophets.” And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter said to him in reply, “You are the Christ.” Then he warned them not to tell anyone about him. He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and rise after three days. He spoke this openly. Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. At this he turned around and, looking at his disciples, rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”
He summoned the crowd with his disciples and said to them, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny him/herself, take up his/her cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the gospel will save it.”
Homily
Erectile dysfunction is the buy levitra no prescription inability in the men to achieve the strong and long-lasting erections during the sexual copulation.The testosterone production in body. Some of them can actually spoil trust, happiness and cheerfulness of buy cheap tadalafil your bond. This was just the beginning and they once again started getting intimate sildenafil 100mg price daily. Perhaps interfering with your work life to the point of not enjoying what could otherwise levitra generika check it out be an enjoyable job. Severe illness has a way of questioning us as regards our belief in Jesus Christ and the after-life. One asks oneself whether or not one will be welcomed by Christ at the other side. Severe illness calls us to question our level of faith. Do we believe or do we not? Can we say like St. Peter: “You are the Christ!”
The second reading of the Mass for this weekend is taken from the Epistle of St. James in which we are reminded that faith and works must go together. Faith which is just words or speculation is not faith according to the mind of the apostles. Words (I believe) or speculation must be accompanied by action. Said differently, Actions must validate our words. Faith which is not expressed in concrete action is dead and of no use therefore. Unfortunately this is the great tragedy of Christian living. The dichotomy between faith and life has become a way of being for many of us. Sunday worship has no relationship to our activities during the rest of the week. There were instances of this dichotomy already in the early church. That is why St. James would write in his letter; “So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” True discipleship is characterized by living faith or in other words, by actions which validate faith. Jesus himself alludes to this in the Gospel passage given to us by the Church this weekend. “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny him/herself, take up his/her cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the gospel will save it.” It is not enough to say that we are disciples of Jesus Christ; the life that we live must proclaim it. The following of Christ can only be attained by those willing to take up the daily cross and offer it to the Father in imitation of Jesus. In this culture and in this present age the taking up of the daily cross is not easily done. Post-modernist thought has removed the words; Self-sacrifice and abnegation from our lexicon and replaced them with the words self-fulfillment and self-determination. This has resulted in a discipleship of words and not of deeds. The witness of selfless love has been more and more diminished and the result is the breakdown in all sectors of Christian life. Christians have to recover the true meaning of human fulfillment and recapture the old wisdom of discipleship which tells us that true human fulfillment can only come about when the selfless love of discipleship is constantly practiced. We must remember that baptism is a vocation to martyrdom, not precisely in the shedding of blood but in witness to the Good News and the person of Jesus Christ. Witnessing to the Good News of Jesus Christ almost always brings suffering with it. Standing up for the values of Jesus Christ; values like truth and justice and the universal brotherhood of human beings demands of us a counter-cultural posture and with that counter-cultural posture comes rejection and suffering.
The saints, our heroes in the faith understood this very well. They sacrificed themselves daily, and they did it with joy, happy to alleviate the sufferings of the poor and marginalized. They were happy to do this because in the poor and marginalized they recognized the face of the suffering Christ. They expressed their love for Christ through their love of the poor and marginalized. In doing this they lost out on many things which the culture demanded but they certainly gained life. They came to the understanding that their fulfillment was inextricably bound to the taking up of the daily Cross and the following of Christ. It is because of this that they lived such heroic lives. Those of us who aspire to holiness must seek to imitate the saints. We have to ask daily for the gift of the Spirit of God and for understanding and courage so that we be able to take up our daily cross and offer this sacrifice to God for our relatives and friends and for our nation.
Prayer
All powerful and ever-loving God, You have called us to be the loving and merciful face of your son Jesus as He was the image of your love and mercy in the world of his time. Help us to Put on the face of Christ; help us to be configured to Christ in such a way that we become other Christs for each other and for the world. Give us the courage and strength to take up the daily cross which being configured to Christ entails so that salvation may reach all of our brothers and sisters. We ask this through the intercession of Jesus Christ your son and Mary, our Mother. Amen
