The WORD
today (see http://usccb.org/bible/readings/082717.cfm)
reminds me to work on my relationship with God.
Parents are very fond of their
children, especially babies. And as they start to talk, parents love to ask
their children to say their name. Daddy. Mommy. Papa. Mama. They love to their
their children calling their name. They love the fact that their children know
who they are. This is probably what God wants from us as his children.
The gospel shows us Jesus
asking the disciples the question: Who am I
to you? He asked them who other people said he was, but it was
really not important to Jesus. He was not interested in what others
think. What matters to him is who his
disciples see him for. Who he is to his disciples. Peter proclaimed
that Jesus is the Christ of God.
Today, God is asking us the
same question: Who am I to you? It does not matter what other people say
Jesus is. It does not matter what sins we have committed in the past. It does
not matter what we intend to do in our lives. What
matters for Christ is our answer to his question. And we can only
say he is our God if we have an intimate
and personal relationship with him. if we don’t pray, if we
don’t hear mass and take the sacraments, if we don’t read the bible, if we
don’t experience Jesus, we cannot honestly say that he is our God. Probably we
can say that other people say he is, or other people say he is a great and
loving God, but unless we build an intimate relationship with Him, we cannot
say the same.
We are challenged today.
Who
is Jesus to you? Who is Jesus in your life? Do you put Him first in your life?
Do you believe that He is the all loving, all merciful, all powerful God? Do
you believe that He can work great things to and through you?
May we find it in our hearts to
answer him like Peter did – that he is Christ the God, that he is God in our
lives. May we work to have an intimate and personal relationship with Him, and
work harder to maintain and grow it.
Father God,
Thank you for
today. Thank you for another day to live. Thank you for another day to rest. I
praise and adore you for who you are. Lord, I am so blessed that you are the same
yesterday, today and tomorrow, and that no matter what I do, you will not love
me less. I am so grateful to be worshipping the same God that Peter worshipped,
and I believe that you will use me in a mighty way the same way you used Peter
for your glory. Lord, I ask that you help me live my life proclaiming that you
are the Messiah, that you are my God, so that I can bring people to you and
glorify you. Help me build and sustain an intimate and personal relationship
with you. This I ask in Jesus name, Amen.
Blessed
Sunday!
In
Christ,
-g-
Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 121
Reading 1IS 22:19-23
"I will thrust you from your office
and pull you down from your station.
On that day I will summon my servant
Eliakim, son of Hilkiah;
I will clothe him with your robe,
and gird him with your sash,
and give over to him your authority.
He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
and to the house of Judah.
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.
I will fix him like a peg in a sure spot,
to be a place of honor for his family."
Responsorial PsalmPS 138:1-2, 2-3, 6, 8
I will give thanks to you, O LORD, with all my heart,
for you have heard the words of my mouth;
in the presence of the angels I will sing your praise;
I will worship at your holy temple.
R. Lord, your love is eternal; do not forsake the work of your hands.
I will give thanks to your name,
because of your kindness and your truth:
When I called, you answered me;
you built up strength within me.
R. Lord, your love is eternal; do not forsake the work of your hands.
The LORD is exalted, yet the lowly he sees,
and the proud he knows from afar.
Your kindness, O LORD, endures forever;
forsake not the work of your hands.
R. Lord, your love is eternal; do not forsake the work of your hands.
Reading 2ROM 11:33-36
How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable 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 may be repaid?
For from him and through him and for him are all things.
To him be glory forever. Amen.
AlleluiaMT 16:18
You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church
and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
GospelMT 16:13-20
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."
Then he strictly ordered his disciples
to tell no one that he was the Christ.
No comments:
Post a Comment