We live in an age where many,
many people seem indifferent, even hostile to religion, rejecting God and his
Word. Many people think that
Christianity is something people made up and that if someone wants to practice
it, they should keep it to themselves. The values of Jesus like the sanctity of life
from womb to tomb, compassion for the poor, traditional marriage, non-violence,
care for the environment are personal matters and should never be brought into
the public forum. Religion private and
personal and people should keep quiet about what they believe and how they see
right and wrong. People have no right to
be public about those things.
I remember a time when it was
not that way. While people may have
disagreed about what exactly God’s Will was, still there was a God, there was
right and wrong for everyone and God would hold us accountable for our
behavior. It’s not that way anymore.
In the Gospel today, Jesus
reprimands Peter. Jesus had just
predicted his mistreatment by the Jewish authorities and the sentence of death
he would soon receive from them. At the
same time, he told them he would rise from the dead. But Peter had other ideas about what should
happen to the Messiah. As a Jew, Peter
believed the Messiah would be the invincible King of the whole world, beginning
with Jerusalem. He would be protected by
God and rule with complete success. But
Peter was thinking like a human being.
God thinks differently. So Jesus
scolded him and said, “If you want to follow me, you have to change your
thinking and you have to be prepared to suffer what I will suffer.” No one like to hear that.
But we are having an experience
today of how difficult it is to follow Jesus.
We believe in Jesus and the truth he spoke. We know that we cannot keep silent about
God’s way for our human family and the world.
But we see more than ever that when we speak, we get in trouble
immediately. People don’t want to hear
that there is a God who has spoken the truth to us in Jesus and that God will judge
each of us one day about how we have lived our lives. People don’t just close their ears to the
message. They try to block Christians
from the public profession of their life and even try to eliminate them.
When Jesus said that we need to
renounce ourselves, he is saying that we must put the truth first and accept
the negative consequences that will come to us.
If we want to protect ourselves from criticism and persecution, we
cannot be his disciples. As he gave
himself out of love even to death, so we must be ready to do the same for
others. Of course, we are afraid of
losing our comfortable life. But if we
do not act on our faith publicly, then, in the end, we shall lose everything, including
eternal life. This is not easy for
us. It was not easy for Jesus and for
Christians down through the centuries.
It will not be easy for believers in the future. The situation will only change when Jesus
returns again. Until then, we are called
to take up our cross and follow him.
When we come together for Mass,
we are coming from our daily lives, where we experience not only the joy of
being in Christ, but also the conflicts and tension that being a believer bring
with it. At the Sunday Eucharist, we
gather to remember again the death and resurrection of Jesus and be fed with
the Bread of Heaven. The Eucharist is a
moment of encouragement for us, encouragement from God as we listen to his
Word, encouragement from the brothers and sisters who are suffering the same
things that we suffer for being Christians.
All of us are invited at Mass check our thinking, to make sure that we
are thinking like God. We are invited to
make our commitment again, to leave the church and walk back out into a world
that is not kind to us and would just as soon see us disappear. But we know that what we bring to the world
is good and right and that our message will bring peace and joy to all. Professing and living our faith will give our
children, our friends, the whole world the chance for a more abundant
life. We cannot and will not remain
silent because, if we do, everybody loses.
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