Today is the 22nd week in Ordinary Time and the Gospel is:
GospelMT 16:21-27
Jesus began to show his disciples
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.
Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him,
“God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.”
He turned and said to Peter,
“Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me.
You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”
Then Jesus said to his disciples,
“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself,
take up his cross, and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world
and forfeit his life?
Or what can one give in exchange for his life?
For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father’s glory,
and then he will repay all according to his conduct.”
The Gospel of the Lord! Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ!
Just some of my reflection on this Gospel:
It is a daily that we take up our cross and follow Jesus and sometimes with effort. That is one of our works in life and when we try to do it well with by the grace of God it is a great witness to others. We must also be careful that in bringing others to Christ we don’t lose our way and miss Heaven! Some people don’t think that is possible, yet we see in Scripture that it is! We see it all around us in people who go to church and or minister, yet during the week don’t practice their faith. We will be re-payed according to his conduct is the last line of this Scripture passage. Again we work, as it takes work to have good conduct.
On Labor Day which is tomorrow in the USA. Many people see labor/work as the result of sin or something bad. Yet if we look at today’s Gospel, we see work as redemptive for us and others. Yes Christ redeemed us, but it says we must take up our cross and He will repay all according to his conduct. Work, not bad work, God doesn’t give us more then we can handle. In Genesis it says God created all in 6 days and rested from His work on the 7th.(Gen. 1) It also says that God settled man in the garden of Eden to cultivate and care for it (Gen2:15), before the 1st sin! Work became challenging after the fall of man, but work was there before!
Have a great week!