I am Peter!

A Reflection on Mark 9:1-10 N.A.B.

By: Larry T

Peter, James, John, and Paul were the four pillars of Jesus’ emerging Church. Peter, James, and Paul were ultimately murdered for preaching the Good News. Peter was crucified; James and Paul were both beheaded. Clearly, their faith in Jesus enabled them to face their executions, but why were they so loyal to him? It is true that Peter, James, and John had seen Jesus perform various healings and miracles, but it was probably the Transfiguration of Jesus, the empty tomb, and Jesus’ physical resurrection that cemented their faith. The Transfiguration was meant to be a wellspring of power and hope for them.

¹ He also said to them, “Amen, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see that the kingdom of God has come in power.”

² After six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves. And he was transfigured before them,

³ and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no fuller on earth could bleach them.

⁴ Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses, and they were conversing with Jesus.

⁵ Then Peter said to Jesus in reply, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here! Let us make three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

⁶ He hardly knew what to say, they were so terrified.

⁷ Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them; then from the cloud came a voice, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.”

⁸ Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone but Jesus alone with them.

⁹ As they were coming down from the mountain, he charged them not to relate what they had seen to anyone, except when the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

¹⁰ So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what rising from the dead meant.

- Mark 9:1-10 N.A.B.

What did Jesus mean when he said “Amen, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see that the kingdom of God has come in power.”? This statement has been the source of much debate and speculation through the centuries. Just what did Jesus mean? Theologians and biblical scholars do not all agree on the meaning, but some convincingly argue that placement of this statement immediately before the Transfiguration clearly relates it to the Transfiguration event. Following this line of thinking, Jesus promised Peter, James, and John that they would personally witness the coming of the Kingdom of God “in power.”

Then, Jesus led them up onto a high mountain where he was transfigured before them and “and his clothes became dazzling white such as no fuller on earth could bleach them.” The astounding whiteness of His clothing reflected His transfigured glory.

Moses (the lawgiver and liberator) and Elijah (the first great prophet) suddenly appeared and began speaking to Jesus. With one foot in the Old Testament and one foot in the New Testament, Jesus is undoubtedly the new Torah.

Next, the whole Trinity appeared: the Father in the voice; the Son in the man; the Spirit in the shining cloud (C.C.C. 555). With, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to Him.” the Father revealed Jesus to be his Son, representative, and revealer, then he gave divine authority to Jesus’ teachings.

The Second Letter of Peter to the Christians wasn’t written by Peter, but by an anonymous author. Still, it was based on oral tradition that summarized their Transfiguration experience, so we know that it had a deep-rooted effect on them.

¹⁶ We did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty.

¹⁷ For he received honor and glory from God the Father when that unique declaration came to him from the majestic glory, “This is my Son, my beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

¹⁸ We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven while we were with him on the holy mountain. - 2 Peter 1:16-18 N.A.B.

Later on, Peter vehemently denied Jesus three times, so we know his faith was still being formed. Imagine the bewilderment when he ran to Jesus’ burial tomb and saw that it was empty. On its own, the empty tomb didn’t mean much to him because Jesus’ body could have been stolen or it might have even been the wrong tomb. Nonetheless, he was certain that Jesus had died on the cross because one of the Roman soldiers plunged his spear into Jesus’ side (John 19:34 N.A.B.). It was only when Peter could see and speak with the physically resurrected Jesus that his faith was completely formed, and he could become one of the four leaders of the early Church.

As we reflect on the Transfiguration of Jesus, we might take the time to relax, take a few deep breaths, close our eyes and imagine that we are walking side by side with Peter. Can you hear loose gravel and small rocks crunch under our sandaled feet as we climb the mountain? We’re all gasping for breath and grunting as we struggle to keep up with Jesus. Rivulets of sweat stream down our foreheads into our eyes stinging them. Jesus is suddenly transformed. His clothing is so blindingly white that we can’t bear to look directly at him. Imagine our terror when Moses and Elijah magically appear. Moses and Elijah! Have we all died? Panic stricken, Peter foolishly blurts out something about building three tents. Then the cloud appears and we hear the voice of God the Father. In an instant it’s all over. What are we thinking as we carefully and silently make our way down the mountain? What just happened? Was it real? Was it a group hallucination?

Peter’s spiritual journey progressed from simple curiosity about Jesus to partial faith, then to half faith, and finally to rock solid faith in the Lord. Especially at this time of the year, as we work our way through Lent into and through the Easter season, we should set aside time to walk with Peter through each spiritual event as we just did through the Transfiguration. Be overcome with love for Jesus at the Last Supper as Peter was. Feel our blood pressure skyrocket and our bodies stiffen in rage as we see our beloved Jesus being brutally arrested. Share in Peter’s disgrace and despair at denying Jesus. Recoil in horror at Jesus’ crucifixion. Sense the desolation of the eleven disciples at Jesus’ death. And finally, be overcome with pure joy at being with the resurrected Lord. Peter’s spiritual journey is an example for all Christians; his faith journey from beginning to end is our faith journey. 

You Duped Me

Sunday, Aug 31: 22ndSunday in Ordinary Time

Today's readings are taken from:

Jeremiah  20:7-9

Psalm 63:2-9

Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans  12:1-2

Gospel according to Matthew 16: 21-27

Jeremiah cried out to the Lord, "You duped me and I let myself be duped. You were too strong for me, and you triumphed.  All the day I am an object of laughter; everyone mocks me."  Jeremiah continues on to tell us that he is determined not to talk about the Lord anymore.  Jeremiah will be silent, but then the name of the Lord burns within Jeremiah and he must speak.

I asked myself and I ask you, have we been duped by the Lord? In a way I hope the answer is yes. Have we been seduced by Jesus to take up the mission of proclaiming the Word?  Do we stand up against the worldliness that can turn us into uncaring people, looking only for our personal gain and comfort.  Are we brave enough to speak out when needed and then accept the derision we might receive when we testify to our mission?  In many ways, we too can be prophets and then be willing to suffer the mocking and laughter that can follow. But in our hearts we can hold tight to the name of the Lord that indeed burns within us knowing that the Lord is always with us and within us.

As I reflected on the Gospel reading, I wondered if Peter too, felt that he had been duped. In the previous passages of Matthew, Jesus told Peter that he was blessed and that Peter would be the rock upon which Jesus would build His Church. Peter must have felt both fear and delight in hearing that he would be a vital part of the kingdom on earth.  Through God the Father, Peter had been able to proclaim that Jesus was "the Christ, the Son of the living God." Peter was probably both humbled and proud.

This week, as Peter hears more and more about what Jesus will endure for our Salvation, he must be horrified.  Jesus is the Son of God; things should be easy for Him.  Instead, Jesus will walk the path of humiliation, great suffering and death.  Peter rejects the possibility of a suffering Jesus and is sharply rebuked by Jesus.  Peter is compared to Satan; an obstacle to Jesus; perhaps tempting Jesus to take an easier path.  Jesus tells us, "Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.  For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it." 

And so Peter learns, as did Jeremiah, that the prophetic message may not be received with joy and happiness, but rather may be received with derision and even hatred.  We need to be careful not to conform to this age. We need to point out when power is abused; when our worth is defined by our wealth; when many people around us are deep into poverty and homelessness.  I'm not sure it is enough to live our lives in virtue and piety; maybe we need to take some action, speak out, etc.  I don't know what my next step should be, but I do know that when Jesus didn't know what to do next, He spent the night in prayer, asking His father to show Him what He should do next.  Maybe that's a good place for me to start.

Peace and Blessings,

Judy

The Keys to the Kingdom

Sunday, Aug 24: 21stSunday in Ordinary Time

Today's readings are taken from:

Isaiah 22: 19-23

Psalm 138: 1-2a,2b-3, 6-8

Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans  11: 33-36

Gospel according to Matthew 16: 13-20

I remember the first time I was given my own set of house keys. As a teenager, I needed to be able to unlock our front door for my younger brother and I on those days when my Mom was helping a neighbor in need. My Mom was a nurse and she often spent time helping an elderly neighbor who didn't have family nearby to care for them. I was really excited about those keys; I knew I was responsible for being sure not to lose them. Those keys meant that I was responsible for getting my brother and I safely into the house when Mom was helping elsewhere.

Receiving the keys is a theme for this Sunday's readings. The reading from Isaiah tells us of the removal of King David's steward Shebnah and the transfer of authority to Eliakim as master of David's palace. "I will place the key of the House of David on Eliakim’s shoulder; when he opens, no one shall shut, when he shuts, no one shall open.” With the giving and receiving of the keys, great responsibility is given.

Then we "fast forward" to the Gospel of Matthew. Again we read about the giving of keys, this time to Peter. Jesus is giving authority to Peter, the rock. Peter has responded to Jesus' question: Who do YOU say I am, by answering, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Peter will become the leader of the New Covenant. "Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." And so our Catholic, Apostolic Church was being born and Jesus says to Peter (and to us) "I will build my Church and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it." Did you know that of all four gospels, only Matthew used the word CHURCH.

As I have been thinking about the authority given to Peter, I am drawn into the authority of our Church. Peter's successors will endure as long as the kingdom; through them we have teaching authority, forgiveness, the Church hierarchy, the Magisterium, etc. The earthly authority of the Church, comes directly from Jesus, the Christ. Sometimes, I get a bit frustrated with the institution, but I know that the authority of God works through our human frailty.

Therefore these words from the Our Father prayer are a beautiful reminder to me. "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." As Fr. Hamm said, "entering that kingdom on earth does eventually lead to entering the divine realm we call Heaven, but the authority given to Peter is a power that he exercises on earth."

And so together lets pray, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."
Peace and Blessings,Judy

But God was not in the Earthquake...Reflection for Readings for the Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 10, 2014

Do you see God in nature?  Do you see God in cataclysmic events?  I love to watch storms.  They are beautiful and terrifying, and wonderful to watch from the safety of indoors or from far away.  One hopes, sometimes desperately depending on the severity of the storm, that no one is hurt by the storm, and it is saddening to learn that property or homes were damaged.

At the mountain of God, Horeb,
Elijah came to a cave where he took shelter.
Then the LORD said to him,
“Go outside and stand on the mountain before the LORD;
the LORD will be passing by.”
A strong and heavy wind was rending the mountains
and crushing rocks before the LORD—
but the LORD was not in the wind.
After the wind there was an earthquake—
but the LORD was not in the earthquake.
After the earthquake there was fire—
but the LORD was not in the fire.
After the fire there was a tiny whispering sound.
When he heard this,
Elijah hid his face in his cloak
and went and stood at the entrance of the cave.

Of course God is present in all places, and in everything, so we know God was in the wind, was in the crushing rocks, and in the fire, but Elijah did not hear or see God in those events.  Elijah heard God in the tiny, whispering sound.  This is how God was speaking to Elijah.  Elijah learned to cut through the "noise" and hear the voice of God, not in the dramatic thundering surrounding the giving out of the commandments, but in the asking us to love one another through obeying his commandments to love one another as he loves us.  In the Gospel, Jesus walks through the noise of the storm, speaks, and through his speaking calms the storm and Peter's fearful spirit.

Aren't we the same way?  When tragedy strikes, when a so termed "Act of God" weather event destroys people's lives or homes, we do not hear God in the violence of those events.  We know that God loves us and wants good for his children, wants good for people of all faith and for people of no faith.   We know that God will come to our assistance, come to our aid in putting lives back together.  We hear God in the whispered healing of the agencies, friends and neighbors who come in to assist people getting back on their feet.   It is easy when one is a victim of a damaging storm or accident to ask God why.  "Why God, why did you let this happen to us?"  It is normal to ask and wonder, and a part of the process of coming to terms with an unwanted and unpleasant shift in one's life, an unfair hand dealt from the hand of life, and it is okay to ask God these questions.  Sometimes there are no good answers, sometimes what is is simply what is, and sometimes the answers come in time, through receiving and accepting the gentle ministrations of others who come along beside you, those who say "we know, we don't understand why either, but we love you and are here for you."   Those that like Jesus in the Gospel reading, reach out their hand to us and say "It is I, do not be afraid."  Sometimes the damage can be prevented in the future, as when we learn more about how to implement safer building codes, or improve our warning systems.

Kindness and truth shall meet;
justice and peace shall kiss.

Our faith life can go through storms, and there is a place of safe retreat.  When we have doubts or fears about God and our relationship with God, we too can improve our warning systems, "hide our face in our cloak", stop looking out at the storms of doubts and learn listen for God's quiet reassuring voice.  We find a quiet place of refuge to meditate on God's goodness in our lives, and draw strength from that "storm shelter".  As we grow and mature as Christians, as people of faith, we learn to be less afraid of the storms.  We learn to accept help from others when we lack faith ourselves.  We can see the warning signs and retreat safely into the arms of God, dodging the worst of the storm.  We can sit with God and watch the storm pass, notice its awesome and terrible beauty, pray that no one will be hurt by it, and stand ready to offer comfort and healing.

When we see others going through the storms of faith, like St. Paul in the passage from Romans, we can have great sorrow and anguish in our hearts for them, learn to empathize, even acknowledge the desire that we could take the storm's "beating" instead of them, and reach out our hands, be the hands of Christ for them as so many have been the hands of Christ for us.  When we turn our selves toward Jesus, turn our spirits inward to the quiet voice saying "this too shall pass, all will be well" and wait, we will find that eventually the storm does pass, and God was with us in the storm all along.

In Christ,
Gazelle

Do You Love Me?

  A reflection on John 21:  15-19

Do you pray with the Scriptures?  When you read them, do you allow a word or a scene from the passage to speak to you in your heart and draw out from you a prayer?  It is essential for each of us enter into prayer in this way.  Yet, it is a direction that many "voices" - from the world, and from your own ego - will dissuade you from; because it will reveal your idols, your weaknesses.  The Lord seeks to lead us out of those "Egypts" in each one of our souls.  To do so demands much; it demands a love that endures all things, hopes all things and to be completely truthful, I do not have that love yet.  That is important for me to understand, not for me to despair but so that I can live in His truth, endure in His light and be drawn up into a more perfect love by following His voice.  

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?”  Simon Peter answered him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”  Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He then said to Simon Peter a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”  Simon Peter answered him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”  Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.”  Jesus said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”  Peter was distressed that Jesus had said to him a third time, ‘Do you love me?’ and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.”  Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.  Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” He said this signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God.  And when he had said this, he said to him, “Follow me.”  John 21: 1-19

Simon, son of John, do you love me?

I need to live in His truth, I need to know who I am and  who I am called to be in His truth.  I need it desperately, and our whole culture is dying for lack of this truth.  In this Gospel, through the questions of Jesus, Peter is taken back into the bitter, memory of his betrayal of the Lord, in order to receive the profound, unfathomable mercy of Jesus so that he can be drawn up into His perfect love. What courage this takes!  We, who are so easily offended, we, who so often confess our failings in a self-justifying context, are also taken through the drama of the Lord's threefold questioning of Peter.  Three times he questions Peter’s love for Him, mirroring the three times that Peter denied Him. The anguish of Peter by the third round is palpable. I can understand this, it can be agonizing to allow Christ to plumb the depths of our individual depravity.  Especially in this hyper-sentimentalized culture, where there is no incentive to grow in a deeper more perfect love,  to have cowardice and unwillingness to suffer in order to grow in love revealed in the unflinching light of His gaze is terrifying.  Who really wants to face their own spiritual impotency?  Yet, to grow in His perfect love is to drive out fear (1 Jn, 4:18), because above all we are afraid of our own ultimate futility - our own spiritual impotency.  Christ is the only possible answer to that fear.  Moreover, when Peter submitted to Our Lord’s probing and tending to the wounds of his darkest failure, we are shown that his little love was enough for Jesus, who would transform that little love into perfect love.  And then we see how much potency in the Spirit is released!  

We must obey God rather than men!

Perfect love does drive out fear!  Look at how Peter and the apostles rejoice at the sufferings and worldly dishonor they receive on account of the Lord! (Acts 5:41) How can I be released from the bonds of my spiritual impotency?  How can I be freed the dark hidden wounds in my soul?  These wounds may not always be obvious, but they have a subtle control over my love. Again, I am not speaking of the sentimental love of our time, but the passionate, agape love of God.  The love that bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (1 Cor 13:7)  This is the love that our fears would block us from entering into.  This is the love that Christ will so gently draw from you, if you, like Peter, allow His Spirit to enter into your darkest wounds and heal them.  And not just heal them, but as we see in Peter, transform them!  His cowardice, in the power of this love, is lifted up to courage.  The Fisherman from Galilee will endure humiliation and martyrdom for Christ and His Church.  “I will praise you Lord…You changed my mourning into dancing!” Psalm 30 2;12

Worthy is the Lamb!

It seems a little unbelievable.  In this age of stunted, materialistic love, we may be a bit jaded in our hope that we could encounter Christ as intimately as Peter did merely from reading the words of Scripture.  We may be afraid to enter into the contemplative prayer that will bring us to Christ in this profound and personal way.  Do it anyway.  Put aside your fears, suspend you disbelief.   When you read the Gospel, when you hear it proclaimed at Mass, place yourself in the readings in your imagination.  Yes, there may be detracting voices -inner voices, worldly voices- that will hurl all sorts of accusations and distractions at you.  Yes, it may take time to build up an ability to endure in this type of prayer.  Yes, you may have to let go of the insipid, sentimentalized one-dimensional Jesus that is too often presented to us;  this Jesus inoculates us against the One who is the worthy Lamb of God, in whose presence all creation trembles and cries out to in adoration. (Rev 5: 11-14)  Persist!  And be ready, because He will surprise you.  Like He did for Peter, Jesus will ever so gently direct you to true repentance and deep healing. He will take your breath away and you will begin to let the Spirit breath through you. 

You brought my soul up from Sheol

My own experience in this type of prayer is an example of how important it is to persist through those false voices.  For many years in prayer I have entered into the scene of the sinful woman we read of in Luke.  In this prayer I am the women attempting to approach the Lord, but the Pharisees are standing in my way.  They present every objection imaginable to discourage me from persisting to see the Lord.  They accuse me of my own unworthiness and some of their accusations are devastatingly accurate.  The worst one is:  “Just who do you think you are!”  They go on:  “You do not belong here, you never will!"  "You do not need Him as much as others, how presumptuous of you!"  You ought to be content to just look at Him from afar, He will just send you away!”   It has really taken me years to get through that gauntlet in any meaningful way.  Even when I did persist and I fell at His feet, I could not look at Him - I was too afraid.  And in my day to day life as well, I can tell you that this fear, fundamentally a fear of rejection, has stopped me from doing many, many things that I ought to have done.   But, one day I did look up at Him.  And He looked at me with eyes that were strong and serious, and unfathomably loving and said:  “ Well, who do you think you are?”  Wow!  Those words from Him seemed to be my worst fear coming true, but the Lord’s eyes never wavered, and drew from me the answer “I am yours.”   And He responds, “ You did not choose Me, I choose you:   Follow me.”

Alleluia!

 Take a moment to enter into this Gospel in prayer (or whatever Biblical scene you are drawn to). What would He ask you?  In those moments of prayer, much like Saint Peter encounter with the Lord, Jesus will draw you to look at yourself with unflinching honesty, but bathed in His light you begin to receive the courage, the power to be so much more than forgiven:  to be transformed, to be potent and fruitful in His Spirit.  Follow Him!

Christ is Risen!  Alleluia!

Heidi 

This post is featured on Catholic Spirituality Blogs Network, a great site to find Catholic blogs!

Jesus and Peter: Inscrutable Mystery

I must say that I am having a hard time coming up with a reflection for this Sunday's readings, which contain Peter's great confession, "you are the Christ, the son of the living God".  It is, of course the definitive moment in which Christ, bestows upon Peter his name and commission as the head of the Church Militant:

"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 loosed on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Matthew 16: 17-19 

I can only refer you to Pope Benedict's great book Jesus of Nazareth :   From The Baptism In The Jordan To The Transfiguration.  Chapter Nine deals with this event and I have not read anything else that has so thoroughly and richly explained it.  He explores the text as a brilliant academic, and also as a man deeply connected to the Spirit.  Here is an example, Pope Benedict has just gone through the various figures that the disciple gave as answer to Jesus' question "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?"  

"The various opinions are not simply mistaken; they are greater and lesser approximations to the mystery of Jesus, and they can certainly set us on the path toward Jesus' real identity.  But they do not arrive at Jesus' identity, at his newness.  They interpret him in terms of the past, in terms of the predictable and the possible, not in  terms of himself, his uniqueness, which cannot be assigned to any other category. Today too, similar opinions are clearly held by  the 'people' who have somehow or other come to know Christ, who have perhaps even made a scholarly study of him, but have not encountered Jesus  himself in his utter uniqueness and otherness" Pope Benedict pg 292 Jesus of Nazareth.

And here the second reading come to mind, and this is the reading the I wanted to reflect on, made all the richer by Pope Benedict's instruction!

"Oh the depth and the riches and the wisdom of God!  How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable are his ways.  For who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselor? Or who has given the Lord anything that he might be repaid?  For him and through him are all things.  To him be the glory forever."  Romans 11:33-36

For who indeed has known the mind of God?  Peter with all of his faults enters deeply into the mystery of God in the moment of his confession and bravely lets go of the predictable and safe responses. He allows the Spirit to lead him to see the identity of Jesus is more, so much more than our intellect can get a hold of.  All other paths stop short, and ultimately disappoint, even if they point us in the right direction.  They are superficial and our hearts yearn for so much more!

I am reminded of the character of Aslan in the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe  by C.S.Lewis.  He is a lion, who is an allegory for Christ.  The children question whether he is tame and safe, and they are told that he is most certainly not tame, or safe, but he is good.  To enter into the mystery of Christ is to avail yourself to the cross, and that is not, by earthly standards a safe path.  Pride is your enemy here, and, though it is appropriate, so is fear.

Pride leads you to think that you can grasp who Christ is, by academic study of a historical Jesus, or by reducing Jesus to a man of social justice or sentimental niceties.  This is  banal, boring and in the end leads you to think that all the mysteries and problems of this world can and should be solved.  Fear, is most definitely appropriate, but it can cause you to stop in your tracks.  To close your eyes, and pretend that life, death and eternity are not at stake here.  You can either go back to the nice safe and understandable Christ who's persona is malleable enough to conform to all of your ideas of what justice and mercy are or you can deny all together that Jesus is anything other than a historical person hijacked for the religious ambitions of the early Church.

Or, you can do what Peter did, wade into the water, the ocean of mystery which leads to the cross and beyond.  Yes, he sinks, he, in fear takes his eyes off of Christ, but he has the humility to cry out to him, to understand that Gods ways are inscrutable!  But faith and humility draw him into the mystery. Faith gives him the courage to see that it is vast and limitless and you are not in control of it, and humility, the ablilty to cry out to God, in praise and in recognition that we need God's endless mercy:

"The Lord is exalted, yet the lowly he sees, the proud he knows from afar.  Your kindness Lord endures forever; forsake not the works of your hands." Psalm 138

It is clear now why Peter is chosen as the rock on which the Church is built upon, and why we continue to need the guidance of the Church, and those who follow the humble fisherman in his Christ commissioned ministry.

To Him be glory forever! Amen!

Monsignor Pope, of the Archdiocese of Washington has a wonderful post on this Sunday's readings, well worth checking out!