Sunday, September 15, 2024

 Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

(Isaiah 50:5-9; James 2:14-18; Mark 8:27-35)

The denial of Simon Peter is found in each of the four gospel Passion narratives. Almost all Christians know how Peter denied knowing Jesus three times. But if we count the denial in today's Gospel, there were at least four denials. Nevertheless, despite having such a tarnished history, he was chosen by Jesus as the leader of His Church.

One reason for his selection is Peter's intuition. He recognizes Jesus as the Christ or Messiah, the Anointed One of God, sent to bring justice to the world. However, his concept of the Messiah is distorted. He believes that Jesus is a warrior like King David, also anointed by God. In his view, Jesus will raise an army to drive the Romans out of Israel. He cannot imagine that Jesus' purpose is more subtle universal and profound than a military achievement.

Jesus will redeem the world from sin by fully submitting to the will of the Father. He will obey God to the point of death on the cross. As the God-man, this sacrifice is enough to free all human beings from the devil's grasp. Unfortunately, Simon Peter sees the crucifixion, at least at this moment, as a shame, not a triumph. As if he knew better, he tries to correct Jesus' thinking.

Jesus strongly rejects Peter's erroneous mindset. He calls him "Satan" because Peter has tempted Jesus, just like the devil did after His baptism. Jesus then explains that not only must He suffer, but those who follow Him will suffer as well. All His disciples must deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow Jesus on the path of self-sacrificing love.

At the beginning of this Gospel passage, Jesus asks: "Who do you say that I am?" Perhaps we would want to respond: "The one who saves us by our faith in Him." While our response would not be incorrect like Peter’s, it could lead us astray. As James emphasizes in the second reading, faith without works “is dead.” If we do not regularly help others, our presence at Mass means nothing. We must lend a hand to those in need. If, due to age or disability, we cannot physically help, we should turn off the television, put down the phone, and pray the rosary for the needy.

There is no shortage of needs we can assist with. School children need tutors. Nursing homes need ministers of Holy Communion. The elderly need visitors. A retired teacher responds to the call of the local "Meals on Wheels" by donating a couple of hours weekly to deliver lunch to seniors. An elderly woman donates part of her time helping hospital visitors find their sick loved ones.

When we identify who Jesus is, we also identify who we are. Jesus is the God-man. As God, He has saved us from our sins through His death. As human, He helped countless sick and suffering people. Being His disciples, we share in His divinity. Therefore, our sacrifices and prayers contribute to the salvation of the world. It is a difficult truth to understand but testified by St. Paul in his Letter to the Colossians. The second identity is easier to comprehend. As disciples of Jesus, we should walk as He did, always doing good.

 

Sunday, September 12, 2021

 TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY

(Isaiah 50:5-9; James 2:14-18; Mark 8:27-35)

Bishop Richard Sklba has been a gift to the Catholic Church. Trained as a Biblical scholar, he became Auxiliary Bishop of Milwaukee. Over the years he held various responsible positions in the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Catholic Bible Association of America. What Bishop Sklba wrote about today's gospel is worth pondering. He said, “… We are all followers of Peter because our testimonies of Christ are very immature and imperfect.”

In the gospel Peter correctly names Jesus as "the Christ" or Messiah.  He realizes that Jesus has come to save Israel. However, Peter is wrong when he thinks that Jesus is not going to suffer in the work of salvation. It would never have occurred to Peter at this stage that Jesus is like the Suffering Servant in the first reading. That is, Jesus will endure beatings and torments, insults and being spit upon to fulfill his mission.

Jesus is not gentle in correcting Peter's mistake. He tells Peter that he talks like Satan when he says that the Messiah will not suffer. In time this lesson, which seems incomprehensible to Peter, will make more sense. Peter will witness the resurrection of Jesus after his death on the cross. He will have seen that Jesus’ sacrifice did not end in his death but in the glory of the resurrection.

In the last twenty years, Church leaders have experienced something of Peter's hard lesson in this gospel. As Peter does not want to have the Messiah thought of as one who suffers, some bishops have not wanted people to see the Church in a negative light.  That is why they hid the sins of priest-abusers. Instead of removing the culprits from ministry, they sometimes them new assignments. Yes, often they did it with the assurance of psychologists that the culprits were truly reformed. However, they often ignored the laws requiring that such crimes be reported to the authorities. Most regrettably, concerned with the reputation of the Church, the bishops overlooked the grave needs of the victims. The young men and women were allowed to suffer alone the trauma of having been sexually abused.

Unfortunately, the same thing happens too often in families. Particularly disturbing is the fact that girls are abused by relatives with impunity. Abusers are often never corrected for their crimes. Sometimes parents don't even want to hear their daughters mention what an uncle or cousin has done to them. They say they don't want problems in the family. However, problems only grow with silence. Victims feel worse and worse about themselves, and the abuse continues.

In the second reading, James asks: "What good is it … if someone says he has faith but does not have works?" James has in mind neglect of the poor, but his question can be applied to sexual abuse. What good is it for us to believe in the salvation of Jesus if we are going to allow the abuse of children? Isn't it that in order to prove ourselves as his disciples, we have to bring the abusers to justice and help the victims? Certainly, these questions apply to families as well as to the Church at large.

We have a hard time talking about sexual abuse. It is like the famous elephant in the room whose presence no one wants to acknowledge for fear of stirring up the animal. But unless we want to continually live with the threat, we have to do something. God has sent us his Son to save us from all sins including sexual abuse. Counting on his justice, we have to correct the guilty and help the victims.