Pastor's Letter -- September 12, 2021

The above words come from our Gospel acclamation for this
weekend. My intention in choosing these words for our
reflection is to call attention to suffering in the life of Christ as
fundamental to our own embrace of our sufferings. Many
people who reject God or in their rejection of organized
religion refuse to affiliate with Christianity ask why there is so
much suffering in the world if there is a good God. It would
seem that by their questioning they hold God responsible for
suffering in the world, while exculpating human beings of any
responsibility for the evils in the world.

It is important to make clear that suffering is not a creation of
God. God did not create suffering; it came into the world due
to human sin… “in the day that you eat of the fruit of the tree,
you shall die” (Genesis 2:17). But thanks be to God, Christ came
into the world to remedy that and to bring us back to the
pristine dignity intended for us by God. He does this by his
Incarnation in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and by his passion,
death and resurrection – all in obedience to the Father’s will.
This Jesus, the one of whom Isaiah and other prophets spoke,
is the suffering Servant of the Lord, the one who was led like a
lamb to the slaughterhouse, yet he did not open his mouth to
defend himself but silently accepted the ignominy which was
deservedly ours (cf. Isaiah 53:7). This becomes an example for
how we are to handle our own sufferings.

I have heard people say they find certain descriptors of God or
of Jesus easier to relate to than others. It is easier to relate
with a smiling Jesus than with a frowning one; with a calm and
loving Jesus than with a chastising and demanding one… It is
often said that Jesus means many different things to different
people. And because human experiences differ, we all come to
different understandings of who Jesus is. For the man in our
gospel for last weekend, Jesus was probably a healer. Some
wanted to crown him king so he would provide bread for them
(John 6:15). Some of us prefer to call Jesus our buddy, friend,
pal, a great hero, a great teacher, or like many of his day
thought he was, one of the great heroes from the past.
Whatever our descriptions of Jesus, they still fall short of who
Jesus really is. Human beings are so in awe of the transcendent
and look for ways of bridging the gap between us and what
stands outside of us. We sometimes use connectors that risk
stripping the transcendent of its transcendence, and thus make
it accessible to us. God is totally and wholly Other. In his
essence, God is totally removed from us, and unlike us in every
way. However, God willed to be immanent to us. And he does
so in the Incarnation. God became man, so that we can relate
to him, and him to us, in ways that do not threaten or scare us.
Jesus, the Second person of the Blessed Trinity, became like us
in all things. He became the visible expression of the invisible
God. As God, he was incapable of suffering; but as man, he
identifies with the human condition, and became subject to
weakness, and even death. Peter did not understand this. How
could Jesus, who just confirmed his declaration of him as the
long expected Messiah, the Son of God, speak about his own
death? It was impossible for him to imagine the Messiah as
capable of suffering, let alone dying. Hence, he felt the need to
condemn that thought immediately. But Jesus knew he needed
to teach his disciples that suffering came with the title,
“Messiah.” Not only will he suffer, he will be rejected and
killed. But the good news is, he will rise again. As such, any
attempt at preventing his passion would be standing in the
way to his accomplishing his Father’s will. Thus, he rebuked
Peter for thinking as men do, not as God does.

Peter, like some Jews, saw in Jesus the fundamental attributes
of the messianic “Son of David” promised by God to Israel.
However, his expectation was for a political Messiah, one who
conquers by military might, and was incapable of suffering or
even dying. This is the way humans think, not as God does.
Thankfully, Jesus did not give credence to this expectation. He
clears the air that the passion of the Son of Man was essential
to his redemptive mission, and does not undermine his
transcendence as the Son of God. He said, “The Son of Man
came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a
ransom for many” (John 3:13; Matt. 20:28). The name Jesus
means “God saves.” This name, given by the angel Gabriel at
the annunciation, expresses both his identity and his mission.
He is God who saves, and he will save his people from sin and
its consequence – death. He does this through his Incarnation,
passion, death and resurrection. This integration of identity
and mission is echoed in Peter’s response, and it calls forth the
integration of our own identity as children of God, and our
mission to be God’s presence in our world. We are called to let
our actions reflect the dignity we have as sons and daughters
of God. Our faith must shine forth in good works, and not just
mere words, for having being crucified to the world, our boast
should be in the cross of Christ, the instrument of our
salvation, and not run away from whatever crosses the Lord
sends us.

May Jesus bless you, and may Our Lady protect you!
With blessings from my heart,