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Dear Friend, All of us are significant
people and are called to be role models for someone or another. Parents and
elders lead by example. Community leaders and teachers do influence people by
their behaviour. We may not consider ourselves important but we do play an
important role in the society we live in and the community we are part of. As
Christians we are called to be role models for others. Our faith is not a
personal affair but has to be expressed in word and deed. Mandela, Martin
Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, St. Peter and St. Paul took this responsibility
seriously. Can we not do the same? Have a faith witnessing weekend! Fr. Jude Botelho |
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This first reading from the Acts of the Apostles
describes the persecution of the early Christians and their religious leaders
by King Herod. Herod had brutally murdered the apostle James, who was
considered more important than the other apostles. Herod was now planning to
do away with the apostles Peter and Paul. He had Peter arrested and thrown
into prison under maximum security. He had four sets of soldiers guarding
him, with one set constantly handcuffed to Peter day and night while the
other two guarded the doors and the passage in the prison. He intended to try
Peter publicly after the Passover break. While Peter was his prison the early
Christians gathered to pray that God might rescue their leader, whom they
could not reach out to. Then something dramatic happens in the prison. An
angel of God appears; Peter sees a light and his chains dropping away. He is
led out of the prisons as the soldiers appear to be drugged or asleep. Peter
did nothing to escape. After his exit out of prison Peter, not sure whether
it’s a dream or real goes to the house where the disciples were praying and
acknowledges that God has rescued him. God can work dramatically in our lives
if only we believe and let Him have his way in our lives. In
the second reading from St. Paul’s second letter to Timothy, Paul gives
witness to how the grace of God has been working in him and through him. He
knows he is reaching the end of his life and feels proud that God’s grace has
not been in vain. He can honestly say “I have fought the good fight. I have
run the race successfully. I have kept the faith. What remains for me is to
receive the crown of glory.” But this
reward is not for Paul alone but for all those who have faithfully kept the
faith. If he did it we can do so as well, with the grace of God. Paul is
grateful that he has been rescued from the lion’s mouth, referring possibly
to his encounter with Emperor Nero. But he knows that ultimately his faith
journey will end in martyrdom. He is unafraid because meeting the Lord Jesus
is the reward he awaits in the end. A dedicated life…. In
today’s gospel according to Matthew, we have an early example of an opinion
poll and Jesus himself conducted it. Even it was very a very limited one it
concerned a central issue: the identity of Jesus. When Jesus asked the
question: who do people say that I am, the people came up with a variety of
answers to the crucial question as to who Jesus was. Having heard what others
had to say about him Jesus turned to the twelve and asked, “And you, who do
you say that I am?” Perhaps he already knew what they thought about him but still
he gave them an opportunity to express it themselves. It is important that we
come up with our own answers and express what we feel and believe about
Jesus. It is not important to repeat the official answers. We have to make
our faith our own. A second-hand faith is a poor faith. Our own answer is
important though at times it may not be the right answer. Jesus praised Peter
not because he had his own answer, but because he had the right answer. Jesus
pronounces Peter blessed by God and gives him the name Peter, “Rock”. “You
are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church.” In the catholic tradition
this indicates Peter’s primacy and later on the primacy of his successors.
What follows are a series of promises: the building of the Church on the
foundation of Peter, the assurance that the powers of death will not prevail
against the Church, the promise of the keys, symbolizing the handing over of
authority, and power of binding and loosing. What seems clear from the
statement of Jesus to Peter was that even though Peter may have not
understood the full importance of his profession of faith, Jesus designated
Peter to play a leadership role in the Church. His faith was to be the
foundation on which Jesus would build his Church. In spite of his frailties
and weaknesses Peter would be the one whom Jesus would use to strengthen his
brothers and build the Church. We too are called to grow in our relationship
with Jesus and our understanding of the faith. The important thing is to
believe out of personal conviction. The more such people we have in the
Church, the more it is founded on rock. Jesus saw the goodness in Peter and
built on it. We too must seeks the goodness of God in everyone and build on
it. “It’s
the action, not the fruit of the action, that’s important. You have to do the
right thing. It may not be in you power, may not be in your time, that
there’ll be any fruit. But that doesn’t mean that you stop doing the right
thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do
nothing, there will be no result.” --Gandhi Called to be Yourself “You do not have to be your mother unless she is
who you want to be. You do not have to be your mother’s mother, or your
mother’s mother’s mother, or even your grandmother’s mother on your father’s
side. You may inherit their chins or their hips or their eyes, but you are
not destined to become the women who came before you. You are not destined to
live their lives. So if you inherit something, inherit their strength, their
resilience. Because the only person you are destined to become is the person
you decide to be.” –Pam Finger In the world to come I shall not be asked, “Why
were you not Moses?” I should be asked, “Why were you not Zusya?” – Rabbi
Zusya May we, like Peter and Paul,
be models of our faith by the way we live! Fr. Jude
Botelho |
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Other Sunday Homily Websites Daily Reflections Immaculate Heart Retreat Center Gospel Commentary from Ireland Daily Scripture |
Recent
Sunday Reflections Twelfth Sunday of the Year 22-June. 2008 Eleventh Sunday of the Year 15-June. 2008 Tenth Sunday of the Year 08-June. 2008 Nineth Sunday of the Year 01-June. 2008 The Feast of Corpus Christi 25-May. 2008 The Feast of the Trinity 18-May. 2008 The Feast of Pentecost 11-May. 2008
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