Thursday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time
By Beth DeCristofaro
God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them: "Be
fertile and multiply and fill the earth. … If anyone sheds the blood of man, by
man shall his blood be shed; For in the image of God has man been made. (Genesis 9:1, 6)
God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them: "Be
fertile and multiply and fill the earth. … If anyone sheds the blood of man, by
man shall his blood be shed; For in the image of God has man been made. (Genesis 9:1, 6)
He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer
greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and
be killed, and rise after three days. He spoke this openly. Then Peter took him
aside and began to rebuke him. At this he turned around and, looking at his
disciples, rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan. You are thinking
not as God does, but as human beings do." (Mark 8:31-33)
Piety
O God, who teach us
that you abide in hearts that are just and true, grant that we may be so
fashioned by your grace as to become a dwelling pleasing to you. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, you Son, who
lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever
and ever. (Collect from the Mass for the Day)
Study
Life changing
episodes recently featured on public radios “StoryCorps” included Mary Johnson
whose son was murdered. She met Oshea
Israel, her son’s murderer, after he was released from prison. "’I wanted to know if you were in the
same mindset of what I remembered from court, where I wanted to go over and
hurt you,’ Johnson tells Israel. ‘But you were not that 16-year-old. You were a
grown man. I shared with you about my son.’
‘And he (your son) became human to me,’ Israel says. … (Mary adds) ‘And I instantly knew that all
that anger and the animosity, all the stuff I had in my heart for 12 years for
you — I knew it was over, that I had totally forgiven you.’ Johnson founded From
Death To Life: Two Mothers Coming Together for Healing, a support group for
mothers who have lost their children to violence. ‘Sometimes I still don't know how to take it,’
(Israel) says, ‘because I haven't totally forgiven myself yet. It's something
that I'm learning from you. I won't say that I have learned yet, because it's
still a process that I'm going through’."[i]
In another StoryCorps
conversation Bill and Claudia reminisce about the beginning of their romance
which led to a 30+ year marriage. Bill
is partially paralyzed and admits that he was not very nice before the accident
which disabled him. "I was a hard
ass," Bill says. "I was not the type of person that I think you would
have wanted to meet. But you get a chance to lay in bed for six months and
re-evaluate who you are. It was ... an opportunity to change the way I
was." [ii]
Today’s readings
are moments of profound change. God
promises to sustain the descendants of Noah and never to send such a
devastating flood upon humans again.
Peter’s witness to Jesus that he recognizes the Son of Man shows his
movement to conversion. He follows but
not in complete understanding. Jesus then begins to teach that his followers
will have to share in his sufferings.
God’s thinking is not human thinking but God’s actions can and do infuse
human thinking and action with grace and holiness. He offers it to us.
Action
Today, look at
everyone with whom you come into contact as being offered the same chance at
change toward God that Noah, Peter, Mary, Oshea, Claudia and Bill were
offered. How can we nourish that growth
toward God in them and ourselves?
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