“Teaching Disciples Day by Day” by Beth
DeCristofaro
My brothers and sisters, show no partiality as
you adhere to the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. You shall love your
neighbor as yourself; you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you
commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. (James 2:1, 8-9)
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 8:31-35)
rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” (Mark 8:31-35)
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, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of
the Holy Spirit,
one God, forever and ever.
(Collect from the Mass for the Day)
Study
With
Peter,
I can answer and sincerely believe what Peter said in today’s Gospel that (Jesus)
“is the Christ.” After all, I’ve
been taught this and accept this as a cradle Catholic. Then I can also respond as did Peter, with a
twinge of fear and horror, as he “took (Jesus) aside and began to rebuke him.” I
prefer my Christ resurrected, knowing (and I do) that my sins are forgiven in
his boundless mercy. But Jesus knows how
easy it is to want it my way! And how
easy it is for me to be swayed by fears, failures, guilt, perfectionism, isolationism,
seeking easy idols and more. Peter had
come to know Jesus day by day but clearly did not yet understand who Jesus
is. And neither do I, but he invites me to know
more, to walk more closely.
In a 2014 meditation, Pope
Francis taught that, to know Jesus, “what is needed is not a study of notions
but rather life as a disciple.” For ‘in journeying with Jesus, we learn who he
is … we come to know Jesus as disciples.’ We come to know him ‘in the daily
encounter with the Lord each day. Through our victories and through our
weaknesses.’ It is precisely ‘through these encounters’ that ‘we draw close to
him and come to know him more deeply.’ For it is ‘in these everyday encounters
that we acquire what St Paul calls the mind of Christ, the hermeneutic to judge
all things.’
Yet the Pope explained that ‘it
is a journey that we cannot make alone.’ He recalled that in Matthew’s account
(16:13-28), ‘Jesus says to Peter: the confession that I am the Son of God, the
Messiah, you have not learned from human knowledge, it has been revealed to you
by my Father.’ And Jesus will go on to say to his disciples: ‘The Holy Spirit,
whom I shall send to you, will teach you all things and will make you
understand all that I have taught you.’
Therefore, we come to know Jesus as disciples
on the path of life, following behind him.’ But this ‘is not enough,’ the Pope
said. In reality, this ‘is a work of the Holy Spirit, who is a great worker: he
is not a union organizer; he is a great worker. And he is always at work in us:
and he carries out this great work of explaining the mystery of Jesus, and of
giving us the mind of
Christ.’ [i]
Action
As we draw closer to Lent, we can put
ourselves in Peter’s place. We can give
up self-preoccupation with ourselves. We
can toss away taking ourselves too seriously, the fears, the guilt, and the precision
in completing the proper prayers or perfected self-denials. We can, instead, be open and listen to Christ
in discipleship, accepting the journey we are now on with Jesus, today, guided
and encouraged by the Holy Spirit.
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