IT IS NEVER TOO LATE
September 27, 2020
Fr. Bosco Padamattummal

John Kenneth Galbraith, a world-famous Harvard economist and economic advisor to four American presidents, tells a story in his autobiography, A Life in Our Times, that illustrates the obedience of Emily Gloria Wilson, his family’s housekeeper:

It had been a wearying day, and I asked Emily to hold all telephone calls while I had a nap. Shortly thereafter the phone rang. President Lyndon Johnson was calling from the White House.

“Get me Ken Galbraith. This is Lyndon Johnson.”
“He is sleeping, Mr. President. He has instructed me not to disturb him.”
“Well, wake him up. I want to talk to him.”
“No, Mr. President. I work for him, not you.”
When I called the President back, he could scarcely control his joy.
“Tell that woman that I want her here in the White House.”

Today’s Gospel (Mt 21:28-32) reminds us that perfect and graceful obedience to God is real love and so is more rewarding than reluctant obedience. Jesus addressed this parable to those (v. 23) who approached him while he taught in the Temple  things, and who gave you this authority?” The word authority is a strong word, having a certain force, sense of respect, of fear, power, control, influence – a responsibility beyond the norm, able to decide things, render judgments, wield certain rights and privileges. In Matthew 28:18, Jesus said, “All authority is given to Me in heaven and in earth.” For example, when He had concluded the Sermon on the Mount, Scripture says: “The people were astonished at His doctrine, for He taught them as one having authority” (Mt 7:28).

 The title that Barclay gives to this story is “The Better of Two Bad Sons.” Jesus presents two sons in this parable as he does in the parable of the Prodigal Son. Here, the first son is asked to go into the vineyard, but he says “No.” He later changes his mind and goes. The second says “Yes, sir,” but does not go. Jesus then asks his listeners which of the two did the father’s will? They answer, “The first,” and their correct answer strengthens Jesus’ case against them.

The message of the story is crystal clear. There are two very common classes of people in this world: 1) Those like the parable’s first-asked son, whose practice is far better than their profession; 2) those like the second-asked son, whose profession is much better than their practice. While the first class should be preferred to the second, neither is anything like perfect, because the really good man is the man in whom profession and practice meet and match. The ideal son in this parable would be one who accepted the father’s orders with grace and respect and who unquestioningly and fully carried them out, just as Jesus obeyed his Father’s orders.

Further, this parable teaches us that promises can never take the place of performance; fine words are never a substitute for fine deeds. The parable clearly teaches that the Christian Way is followed deeds. The parable clearly teaches that the Christian Way is followed in performance, not in promise alone, and that the mark of a Christian is obedience – graciously and courteously given. We are not supposed to say “yes” to God on Sundays and “no” to God on weekdays. God doesn’t want polite but hypocritical words, for that isn’t obedience at all. “Merciful and quick to forgive,” God tolerates willful, even blasphemous disobedience, provided repentance follows.  

God remains faithful, always ready to receive repentant sinners. He never abandons us even when we abandon Him. When John the Baptist called people to repent, tax collectors and prostitutes repented and were baptized. It was easy for them to repent, because their sins were obvious, even to themselves. The religious leaders, however, were not able, or ready, to admit their need for repentance, and therefore they rejected John and his call. So also, they rejected Jesus.

We are reminded of Jesus’ words earlier in this Gospel, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in Heaven” (Mt 7:21). The life-saving difference between the two sons was the fact that one had the good sense to remember the love of his father, to turn from evil, and decide to do what was right.

Today who do these two sons represent? The first son, the faithful son, has still another face. It could be a repentant alcoholic or drug addict; someone who creates constant family problems due to his temperament; someone who the church or community needs to reach out to; anyone called to true repentance. The first son of the parable can be all people who, however reluctantly or painfully, obey Christ.  

The second son is the person in the pew who refuses Christ entry into his or her heart and life; a Christian who refuses to obey Christ in the sensitive areas of sex, money, and power; a pastor whose sermon is designed to please people rather than to please God; a Church that ignores issues of justice and mercy; a religious ed program that neglects to teach children the great stories in the Bible and of saints. The second son of the parable can be all people who appear to be faithful, but down deep, are not.  

Dear brothers and sisters, if we have been disobedient to God in our past, we need to knock at the door of God’s mercy and to remember that what God in his mercy did for the tax-collectors and sinners He can and will do for us, IF we repent of our past sins and renew our lives as the first-asked son in the parable did. It is never too late for us to be transformed.  

IN HIS MAGNANIMITY
September 20, 2020
Fr. Bosco Padamattummal

For many the parable in today’s Gospel (Mt. 20:1-16) seems to run against one of our most
deeply cherished values: The more you work and the more productive you are, the more you
should be paid. This is the complaint of those who worked all day. Of all the gospels, only
Matthew records this parable. It is connected to the preceding chapter (Mt 19:30) and appears to add to what Jesus said concerning the Kingdom of Heaven. At the close of that chapter He said, “Many that are first shall be last, and the last shall be first.”

As we consider this text of a harvest time and the Master of the vineyard needing more workers,
we need to understand the Old Testament (OT) passage (Ezekiel 18:25): “You say, ‘The way of the Lord is not equal.’” One of the things that the people of Israel did was accuse God of inequities, of being unjust, of being unfair. And so, Ezekiel said, “Hear now, house of Israel: Is it my way that is unfair? Are not your ways unfair?”

We see the accusation that God is unjust in different parts of the OT. I don’t think there’s a better parable to see this than the one before us which explains commonality of the application of the great benefit of justification and sanctification of the believer in salvation. There’s really only one way to understand this proverb: If the first are last and the last are first, then everyone’s the same. As we’re talking about the sphere of salvation, there is no inequality among the believers of the family of God in the realm over which heaven rules.

At the time of Jesus, these hired laborers were the lowest class of workers – unskilled and living at a certain level of desperation. If they didn’t work, they didn’t eat and neither did their families. Slaves and servants had steady jobs. Even if they were poor, they knew where they were going to sleep and that they would have enough food. However, here Jesus is concerned about hired workers. He wanted them to be cared for appropriately.

Deuteronomy 24:15 says, “On each day you shall pay the servant’s wages before the sun goes down, since the servant is poor and is counting on them. Otherwise the servant will cry to the LORD against you, and you will be held guilty.” This landowner of the vineyard was a dutiful Jew who did exactly what Old Testament law required; he paid them at the end of the day of their work. And so, he said to his foreman, “You take charge of paying them their wages and start with the last group.” Those hired about the eleventh hour came, and each received a denarius, exactly what they needed to support their family for a day. Had they had earned it? No, but the compassionate landowner knew that was needed to feed their family.
Verse 10 says, “When those hired first came,” (those who had worked all day) “they thought that they would receive more.” The silent expectation was that they would get more than everybody else because they worked harder. And so when that did not happen, it says in verse 11, “They grumbled.”

But nothing illegal, unjust, or unfair had been done to them. All had the same need. A denarius to provide what they needed for themselves and their families. And the landowner had every right to do this because what he gave them belonged to him. Are we to assume that his compassion and kindness to others was somehow wrong?

So what is the point of this parable for us? In the end, everybody received the same. It illustrates that people coming into a vineyard, working different hours, putting out different effort, in the end will all receive the same result. The HOUSEHOLDER is God. The VINEYARD is His kingdom, the kingdom of heaven, the LABORERS are those who are in His kingdom. Some have been in His kingdom a long time, and some have been in His kingdom a very brief time. The EVENING is eternity when we receive our reward. The STEWARD or the foreman corresponds to Jesus Christ who gives out those rewards. The WAGE or the denarius is eternal life. It’s life in the kingdom of God.

Some people have spent their lives in difficult, challenging, sacrificial service to Christ. Some have been martyred. Some pay a great price, working diligently to the point of exhaustion in the service of the King. Others, like the thief on the cross, come into the kingdom at the very last hour, the last moment, the last few minutes, on their deathbed and enter into the kingdom. Whether you are the thief on the cross or a martyr, you’ll receive the same eternal life.

 Jesus is trying to educate His hardheaded disciples. In Mt 19:16, the rich, young man comes to Jesus, asking, “What must I do to obtain eternal life?” Jesus says, “I want you to take everything you have and sell it. Take the proceeds from the sale and give it to the poor and then follow me.” He could not do either. Through his action he said, I’m not giving up anything. Then Peter says (v. 27) what they all were thinking: “We have given up everything and followed you. What will there be for us?” Peter was saying: We’re not like that guy. We left everything. We had a business. We have left everything and followed you. And Jesus’ response is: You’re going to get exactly what everybody else gets. No more and no less. Selfish, confused, envious, jealous perceptions on the heart of the apostles were intolerable to our Lord.

Dear brothers and sisters, we all receive the same eternal life, whether we come to Christ just hours before death or whether we’ve known Him for 80 years. So instead of exalting ourselves like the disciples did and imagining that we’re someone special and going to get some great place in the glory to come, let us humble ourselves, and be thankful that God in His magnanimity, has chosen to give us ALL the same eternal life. 

THE CHOICE CHRIST MADE
September 13, 2020
Fr. Bosco Padamattummal

Forgiveness, for Jesus, is not a quantifiable event. It is a quality; a way of being, a way of living, a way of loving, a way of relating, a way of thinking and seeing. It is nothing less than the way of Christ.

If we are to follow Christ then it must become our way as well. “Not seven times, but I tell you, seventy-seven times” (Mt 18:21-35). We may ask: Does that mean the drunk driver? The cheating spouse? The lying businessman? The racist? The rapist? The bully? The abusive parent? The greedy corporation? Even the terrorists of 9/11? The memories, the images, the anger, the fear, the pain and losses all intersect with Jesus’ teaching on forgiveness.

Look at your own lives, and you will find broken promises, hurt feelings, betrayals, harsh words, physical and emotional wounds. Every one of us could tell stories of being hurt or victimized by another. Beneath the pain, the wounds, the losses, and the memories lies the question of forgiveness. C.S. Lewis writes,
“Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until there is something to forgive.” I know how hard forgiveness can be. Like you, I too struggle with it and often avoid it.

Forgiveness is the only way forward. That does not mean we forget, condone, or approve of what was done. It does not mean we ignore or excuse cruelty or injustice. It means we are released from them. We let go of the thoughts and fantasies of revenge. We look to the future rather than the past. We try to see and love as God sees and loves. Forgiveness is a way in which we align our life with God’s life.

To withhold forgiveness is to put ourselves in the place of God, the ultimate judge to whom all are accountable. God’s forgiveness and human forgiveness are integrally related. That is more than apparent in today’s parable. The king forgives his slave an extraordinary amount. Ten thousand talents is about 3,000 years of work at the ordinary daily wage. It seems there is no debt too large to be forgiven. This man, this debtor, was forgiven. That’s what the kingdom of heaven is like. That’s how our God is.

This slave, however, refused to forgive his fellow slave 100 denarii, about three months of work at the ordinary daily wage. Too often that’s what our world is like. Frequently, it is how we are. In that refusal the forgiven slave lost his own forgiveness. This should not be news to us. We know it well. We acknowledge and pray it every Sunday, and I’ll bet most of you pray it every day: “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” We pray those words with ease and familiarity, but do we live our prayer? Do our actions support our request?
“Not seven times, but I tell you, seventy-seven times.” That’s a lot of forgiveness. Forgiving those who trespass against us is the salve that begins to heal our wounds. It may not change the one who hurt you, but I promise you this: Your life will be more alive, more grace-filled, more whole, more God-like for having forgiven another. Forgiveness creates space for new life. Forgiveness is an act of hopefulness and resurrection for the one who forgives. It is the healing of our soul and life. Forgiveness takes us out of darkness into light, from death to life. It is the refusal to let our future be determined by the past. It is the letting go of the thoughts, the hatred, the fear that fill us so that we might live and love again.

So how do we begin to forgive? There is no easy road to forgiveness. Don’t let anyone tell you, “Just give it up to God. Forgive and forget.” This sort of simplistic answer only demeans those who suffer and pick at the wound. Forgiving another takes time and work. It is something we must practice every day. It begins with recognition and thanksgiving that we have been forgiven. We are the beneficiaries of the crucified one. Hanging between two thieves, he prayed, “Father, forgive them” (Lk 23:34). That is the cry of infinite forgiveness, a cry we are to echo in our own lives, in our families, our work places, our parishes, our day to day life. Sometimes, we just can’t forgive because the pain is too much, the wound too raw, the memories too real. But we have to choose to forgive because that’s the choice Christ made.

LEONARDO DA VINCI, just before he commenced work on his famous painting, “The Last Supper,” had a violent argument with a fellow painter. Leonardo was so bitter that he determined to paint the face of his enemy, the other artist, into the face of Judas, and thus take his revenge, immortalizing the man for generations to come. Everything went well as he painted the upper room, the table, and all the different disciples around the table. But when he came to paint the face of Christ, he could make no progress. Something seemed to be baffling him, holding him back, frustrating his best efforts. Finally, he came to
the conclusion that the thing frustrating him was that he had painted the face of his enemy into the face of Judas. Leonardo picked up his brush, dipped it into the paint, and brushed out the face of Judas! He was then able to resume his work on the face of Jesus and this time was successful in capturing its holy nature and pure character.

Dear brothers and sisters, we will never be good representations of Jesus until we let go of our unforgiveness, because unforgiveness hurts our relationship with Christ.

OF WATCHMEN
September 6, 2020
Deacon Dennis Walters

Twice in the book of Ezekiel, the Lord commissions the prophet as a watchman for the house of Israel, once to warn of the coming of judgment (Ezek 3:17-21) and again to prepare for the coming of salvation (Ezek 33:7-9). These two commissions are distinct, but related.

The role of a watchman or sentinel for an ancient walled city was critical for its safety. As a lookout, he was responsible for notifying thekeepers of the city gates of the approach of messengers, travelers, or caravans who would need to have the city gates opened for them. He also had to warn of the approach of large groups, such as armies, so the gates could be closed and soldiers be readied for an attack. The role of watchmen for the Temple in Jerusalem was different, but critical for its operation. Aside from safety concerns, one of their tasks was to announce the time at sunrise when the morning sacrifices could begin, and to signal the hour of the evening sacrifices. This role was especially important on Fridays, because the watchman announced the appearance of the first star at evening, to signal the beginning of the Sabbath rest.

Watchmen look for signs of what’s about to happen. Once, when a group of Pharisees and Sadducees asked Jesus for a sign from heaven, he criticized them for being able to see signs predicting the weather, but not able to see the signs of the times. The signs he was thinking of were twofold. One set concerned the conditions that would bring about the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple. The other signs concerned the parousia – the arrival – of the Messiah, announced in Old Testament prophecies, and Jesus’ own miracles and his message, signs that, as the watchmen for Israel, they refused to see.

It takes no particular skill as a watchman to see ominous signs that indicate that a storm is coming toward our nation. For roughly seventy years, our nation has enjoyed a prosperity largely undisturbed by the Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan wars. That time may be coming to an end. The pandemic we’re experiencing is only the beginning. We’re starting to see a level of civil unrest that goes deeper than the protests of previous decades. Our political system is deadlocked, threatening our democracy. Our economy is undergoing great stress right now, with people out of work, unable to consume basic goods like food and shelter. Traditional morality has been redefined by the courts to legalize behaviors previously thought detestable. Churches and synagogues are being attacked and vandalized by well-organized mobs. The stresses bedeviling our nation also afflict Europe, which is undergoing many of the same problems. Modern watchmen, both Catholic and Protestant, sense that our world is on the verge of a hurricane of judgment and are calling for a time for prayer and penitence.

At World Youth Day 2002, Pope John Paul II called for watchmen to look for a different set of signs. In his letter inviting the youth of the world to Toronto that year, he said this: When the light fades or vanishes altogether, we no longer see things as they really are. In the heart of the night we can feel frightened and insecure, and we impatiently await the coming of the light of dawn. Dear young people, it is up to you to be the watchmen of the morning who announce the coming of the sun who is the Risen Christ!

The audience he was addressing was what we now call Millennials, some of whom are sitting here. The pope had some specific suggestions to prepare them for their role as watchmen of the morning. Observing that your “generation is being challenged in a special way to keep safe the deposit of faith,” he urged millennials to discover their Christian roots, learn about the Church’s history, deepen their knowledge of their spiritual heritage, and follow in the footsteps of the witnesses and teachers who have gone before them. In his Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte he added the call to personal holiness through a life of prayer, attendance at Sunday Eucharist, frequent use of the Sacrament of Confession, and listening to the Word of God.
 
These activities are necessary for personal formation, but not just for oneself. A good watchman knows his responsibility to look outward, observe conditions, see trends, and sound the alert so others can hear. The love of Christ urges him to give voice. If you follow the careers of the Steve Rays, the Christopher Wests, the Chris Stefanicks, the Jennifer Fulwilers, and others like them, you find people – most of them lay men and women – who see what’s going on in the Church and speak about it. They don’t keep silent. They warn, they announce, they proclaim, they may even make themselves obnoxious. They demonstrate the virtue of zeal. Indeed, for some of them, zeal for the Lord’s house consumes them. It should consume us.

The darker signs I mentioned earlier indicate that the light is fading and in some places has vanished altogether. As a culture, we no longer see things as they really are, so we redefine them as we’d like them to be. Like the night, this unreality cannot last. Pope John Paul II was convinced that ours is not only a time of judgment but of proclamation – of warning but also of announcing salvation. An old man himself, he looked to youth for those morning watchmen who awaken the Church for her morning sacrifice. Those youth are here among us – the millennials and the generation after them. If he were alive, the pope would probably say to the youth of St. Mary’s: Dear young people, don’t be afraid of your responsibility! Don’t be afraid to announce Jesus Christ! You are the watchmen of the morning!

THE ENTIRE POINT OF THIS LIFE
August 30, 2020
Fr. Bosco Padamattummal

In today’s Gospel, after Peter’s great confession of Faith, Jesus takes his disciples by surprise, announcing that he “must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised” (Matthew 16:21). He will tell this to the disciples over and over, because they are simply unable to grasp what He is saying. Not until they see the Resurrected Christ will the truth begin to break through their prior understanding.

Peter thought his human wisdom was needed to correct Jesus. That is because we don’t understand the things of God, but we understand the things of men. And one thing we have to learn in the spiritual maturing process is that God does things in ways that we really can’t quite understand in human wisdom.

I think about David who, in 2 Samuel 7, was refused the privilege of building the temple because he was a man with bloody hands. And when God took away from him the purpose and plan he had in his heart, David finally understood how much greater God’s plan was. And he said to God, “You don’t do things the way men do, do you, God?” That’s a profound lesson.
And perhaps the most powerful of all passages in regard to this comes from the lips of Isaiah as he speaks on behalf of God and says these profound words in Is 55:8
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,   neither are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.

Men don’t think like God. That’s why Jesus taught us to pray, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done” – because we don’t know God’s purposes in our humanness. Peter’s objection to Jesus prediction of His death is because he is like all the rest of the Jews of whom Paul says in 1 Cor 1:23 that the cross is “a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles.” Having a King and Messiah who is murdered was unimaginable. And because their understanding was so incomplete, Jesus reminds them in Mt 16:20 not to tell anyone until they get it straight. And that doesn’t happen until after the resurrection.

Peter had a power-glory-majesty Messianic view. Jesus had a suffering-pain-be killed and rise from the dead view. The things of men are set against the things of God. And He gives lesson after lesson as recorded Mt 17 and 20 on how He is going to establish the kingdom through His death and resurrection. I am sure He has talked it more than what is recorded in this Gospel.
So, the Lord was teaching them, unfolding lessons which they would not fully understand until the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost. Then all of a sudden, when the Spirit of God came, the lights went on, and all these lessons and their meaning became real to them. Now, as we look at the divine plan, it has four stages. First in Mt 16:21, He must go to Jerusalem. That’s a must. There is a proverb “All roads lead to Jerusalem.” He had to go to the city of sacrifices. He had to be the Passover Lamb. He would go and offer Himself. As He said in John 10:18, “No man takes my life from me, I lay it down of myself.”

Second phase of God’s plan was to suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes. Those three groups of people constituted the Sanhedrin which was the ruling tribunal in Israel.
Thirdly, to Peter’s protest Jesus said: “Get behind Me, Satan, you are an offense to Me” (Mt 16:23). The plan of God is counter to the presumption of Peter who doesn’t want the Lord to die, doesn’t want the Lord to have pain.  

Most probably Satan was using Peter to tempt Jesus to turn around from His mission, trying to distract Jesus under the disguise of a concerned friend wanting him to go easy with His Call. But Jesus had a clear sense of God’s call for His life, and therefore, He was able to withstand the Devil’s distraction.  

Satan had infiltrated Peter’s thinking so that he was articulating the thing that Satan was continually articulating: trying to get Jesus to avoid the cross. What does this say to us? Most of the time all we want is to eliminate the present pain; all we can see is present darkness, present suffering. God sees future glory.

Dear brothers and sisters, the first thing this Gospel passage is teaching is the Call of the Church to withstand the devil’s distraction and have a clear sense of God’s Mission. When the Church undertakes the Call to do God’s mission, there will be distractions and adversity on the way. It was the cross that defined the Call of Christ, and it is the cross that defines the call of the Church. To tell about Jesus without the Cross is to betray Him with a kiss. It is not truthful about the Gospel.  

Secondly, when Jesus says that we, the Church, need to deny ourselves, He is not saying we need to create scarcity and pain for ourselves. Rather to deny ourselves is to be prepared to let go of anything that competes with His kingdom principles.

Thirdly, to carry the cross means to be prepared to obey God’s Word no matter the consequences.  

Fourthly, the call of the Church is to look forward to eternal rewards. Jesus’ point was profound: If we spend all our energy to save our life now with no commitment to God, we will lose the entire point of this life, which is about investing now for the life to come.  

DISCOVER "ROCKNESS"
August 23, 2020
Fr. Bosco Padamattummal

“But who do you say that I am?” Jesus’ question isn’t so much about getting the right answer as it is about witnessing and testifying to God’s life, love, and presence in our lives and the world. It is less about our intellect and more about our heart. It is grounded in love more than understanding. It moves us from simply knowing about Jesus to knowing him.

We are always living into this question. By that I mean: Who Jesus was when I was a child is different from who he was when I was in my 30s or who he is for me today. Hopefully, who he is for me next year will be different from who he is today. It’s not that Jesus has changed. I have. We not only discover Jesus anew, we discover ourselves anew. Who we say Jesus is has everything to do with who and how we are and will be.

In some ways our answer says as much or more about us than Jesus. It reveals how we live and what we stand up for. It guides our decisions, and determines the actions we take, the words we speak. It describes the expectations and demands we place on Jesus. It discloses the depth of our motivation for and commitment to following him. Jesus’ life and presence among us calls into question everything about our lives, our world, the status quo, and business as usual.

So this question is NOT a test. This is not about what is in our head but what is in our heart. It’s about what lies at the core of our existence. Jesus is asking the disciples to consider what centers their lives. What is the axis about which their world turns? It is not enough to just give the right answer. They are to become and reveal the answer by their lives, words, and actions.

Those things, for Jesus, are foundational to a life of discipleship. That’s why we ought not answer his question too quickly or with too much certainty. It’s not a question to be figured out as much as it is a question to be lived. When we are constantly engaging this question, we not only discover Jesus anew – we discover ourselves anew.

Let me tell you some of the answers I’ve heard or read: My personal Lord and Savior. The Son of God. God Incarnate. He’s my life, my everything. Buddy, brother, friend, comforter, teacher. The list could go on and on. There is nothing wrong with one- or two-word answers. But the answer to this question is to be lived personally by you and me.

Who do we say Jesus is when a loved one dies? when the doctor gives news we did not want to hear? when our life seems to be falling apart? Who do we say Jesus is when we are faced with decisions that have no easy answers? when the storms of life overwhelm us? when faithfulness means risking it all and taking a stand against a louder and seemingly more powerful majority? The answer to this personal question is never simple, small, and easy, especially in front of the pain the world offers. There is nothing safe about the question Jesus poses.

In Jewish Midrash, the rabbinic teaching and preaching on the Scriptures, it is said that Israel is at the center of the world. At the center of Israel is Jerusalem and the temple of Jerusalem. At the center of the temple is the holy place. At the center of the holy place is the ark, the presence and glory of God. Underneath the ark is the foundation, the rock upon which all rests.

The imagery of that Midrash takes us deeper and deeper to the center of the center of the center. That is exactly what Jesus is doing with his questions in today’s gospel. “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”… “But you, who do you say that I am?” In the first question Jesus is asking what the disciples hear and see around them. In the second question he wants to know what they see and hear within themselves. Jesus is always pushing us to go deeper, to look within and discover who or what our life is centered on, and then to re-center. But we are followers of Christ. Isn’t he already our center?

Whenever we re-center our lives on Christ we become a new person. Every time the lines of our lives converge on Christ, we become rock-like. We become the foundation, the rock, on which rests the church, the new ark that holds and reveals the presence and glory of God. With all its frailties Jesus chooses human life and relationships to be the rock on which he builds his church.

We are not, however, rocks that are unmovable or unchangeable. As water slowly forms and shapes a rock over time so does a lifetime of re-centering form and shape us to be Christ’s foundation in this world. Re-centering is our life’s work, and it is not easy work. It means we must continually let go of what we thought centered our lives and move to our true center: the Messiah, the Son of God, the living one.

The opportunity for re-centering is hidden within the ups and downs of our life. It is something we do over and over, and we don’t always get it right. Look at Peter. He is the one of little faith, sinking in the water. He doesn’t understand the parables. He argues with Jesus and ends up being called Satan. He falls asleep when he is supposed to be praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. He denies knowing Jesus. Through it all he was being shaped, formed, molded into the rock Jesus knew him to be. Ultimately Peter was crucified for re-centering, following, and loving Jesus.

Dear brothers and sisters, Jesus’ words, “You are rock and on this rock I will build my church,” are words of life. They were for Peter, and they are for us. What Jesus says to Peter he says to all: “Who do you say that I am?”

Don’t just answer his question. Go live the answer. Discover the “ROCKNESS” that Jesus knows you to be. Live with hope in the midst of despair. Love your neighbor as yourself. Care for the poor, feed the hungry, and defend the oppressed. Offer forgiveness despite your anger. Pray when you are too busy to pray. Love your enemies despite your fear. Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow him. Practice generosity in a declining economy. Re-center even when it feels like you cannot stand up. Do these. Be the rock. Be the rock on which Jesus’ church stands before the world.