Cycle B, Year II

16 September 2012: 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time
(Liturgical color: Green)

Mark 8:27-35

A personal faith in Jesus!
In our catechism years, (and that was so many years ago for me,) we used to be told that the Philippines is the only Catholic country in Asia. But after so many years that the seed of Christianity has been planted in our soil, sometimes we ask how come that we are unable to evangelize our neighboring countries in Asia?

For majority of Filipinos, we embraced Christianity from baptism because of our Catholic parents. In our catechism years and other religious formation in later lives, we were taught about important Catholic dogmas and other teachings of the Church.  And at the center of our faith is our belief in Jesus Christ as God the Son. But on second thought, who is really Jesus in our lives?

That brings us to the gospel event this Sunday. After staying with Jesus for some time and watching him cure the sick and perform miracles, Jesus poses a question to the twelve:"But who do you say that I am?" It was Simon Peter who answered him, "You are the Christ!"

But when Jesus started to talk about his impending suffering and death, Peter could not take it and objected. Because his idea of the Messiah is a worldly king who would liberate his people from suffering. He could not understand the redemptive value of Jesus' suffering and death on the cross.

Peter's dilemma about his faith in Jesus is not uncommon even with us today. As we said earlier we have been baptized as Catholics but does our faith in Jesus take root in us? So like Peter and the rest of the apostles, Jesus also poses the same questions to us, "Who do you say that I am?"

In other words Jesus challenges us to go deeper into the roots of our faith by making it truly personal. That involves total commitment and unconditional trust in Him to follow in his footsteps through his passion and resurrection.  We cannot be his disciples if we want only the "resurrection" part without the cross.

We live in a world with so much personal and collective suffering, sometimes of own making. Even the Church is not spared, as it suffers from dissension even unfounded attack for its teachings on life and defense of the unborn. We pray for the gift of personal faith in Jesus Christ our Lord that we are able to embrace our sufferings, trusting that our God of Life will prevail in the end.

In the Eucharist we also pray that our faith becomes alive in our daily situations through acts of charity to those in most need and sharing our faith with our Asian neighbors. So that we truly rejoice no longer as the only Catholic country in Asia but as among Catholic countries in this part of the world.

A blessed  Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.

Deo Optimo Maximo