Year: 2024

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Gospel: Matthew 16: 13-19

When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi
he asked his disciples,
“Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah,
still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Simon Peter said in reply, 
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah.
For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.
And so I say to you, you are Peter,
and upon this rock I will build my Church,
and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.
I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven.
Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven;
and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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One of my favorite paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is: The Penitent Saint Peter, by Jusepe de Ribera.

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The painting depicts Peter as an old man weeping, kneeling against a rock with his hands clasped in prayer, much like Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Although Peter’s in possession of the keys to the kingdom, which the Lord gives him in today’s Gospel, a tear is falling from Peter’s eye, reminding us that he’s a frail old man.

Is Peter seeking God’s forgiveness? Is he praying for strength? Is he interceding for a particular person, even his entire flock, the Church?

One can only imagine.

But Ribera’s point is clear: although Peter is Christ’s representative on earth, charged with leading the Church forward, he needs God’s strength no less than we do.

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That warm little tear falling from Peter’s eye reminds me of a bit of advice I received in seminary:

“After you’re ordained,” I was told, “you’ll be able to act in the name of Christ. You’ll celebrate Mass! But you’ll be just as human as you were before you were ordained. Priestly ordination never irons out your weaknesses. Only hours spent in prayer can do that.”

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Prayer strengthens our spirit while ironing out our weaknesses. 

It’s why we find Peter kneeling against that rock.

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Many things could be said about his unique role in the Church – and the authority each of his successors retains on earth – but perhaps it’s enough today to reflect on this: 

Christ prayed. Peter prayed. We must pray… and all the more intently during Lent!

Those intimate moments of silence slowly make us more and more like Christ.

Saint Peter, pray for us.

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Image credits: (1) Christ Handing the Keys of Heaven to the Apostle Peter, Pietro Perugino (2) The Penitent Saint Peter, Jusepe De Ribera (3) eBay, The Garden of Gethsemane

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Jonah 3: 1-10

The word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time:
“Set out for the great city of Nineveh,
and announce to it the message that I will tell you.”
So Jonah made ready and went to Nineveh,
according to the LORD’s bidding.
Now Nineveh was an enormously large city;
it took three days to go through it.
Jonah began his journey through the city,
and had gone but a single day’s walk announcing,
“Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed,”
when the people of Nineveh believed God;
they proclaimed a fast
and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth.

When the news reached the king of Nineveh,
he rose from his throne, laid aside his robe,
covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in the ashes.
Then he had this proclaimed throughout Nineveh,
by decree of the king and his nobles:
“Neither man nor beast, neither cattle nor sheep,
shall taste anything;
they shall not eat, nor shall they drink water. 
Man and beast shall be covered with sackcloth and call loudly to God;
every man shall turn from his evil way
and from the violence he has in hand.
Who knows, God may relent and forgive, and withhold his blazing wrath,
so that we shall not perish.”
When God saw by their actions how they turned from their evil way,
he repented of the evil that he had threatened to do to them;
he did not carry it out.

The Word of the Lord.

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Every morning our alarm clock goes off, I’m sure we’re tempted to hit “snooze.”

Maybe we did this morning.

I did.

In fact, I do most days.

We hit snooze because we’re reluctant to get up; we’d rather stay in our warm and cozy bed than face the day, certainly at 5 am.

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The prophet Jonah felt the same way, only he was hitting the “snooze” button on doing God’s will.

God asked him not once – but twice – to enter the city of Nineveh, encouraging the Ninevites to repent. 

But Jonah didn’t want to because the Ninevites were the sworn enemy of Israel. He’d rather watch their city burn to the ground in a fiery blaze than see them repent and be saved.

Ironically enough, because of Jonah’s reluctance to do God’s will, he reveals himself to be no different than his sworn enemies; both sides need to repent and seek God’s forgiveness.

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Are we ever like Jonah? Do we put off doing something that we know is right?

Whether that means picking up the phone; offering or accepting an apology; getting rid of a sinful habit; integrating more time into our day for prayer; going to confession.

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Stop hitting the snooze button.

As Saint Paul reminds us, “The night is over and the day draws near. Let us cast off the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.”

Lent is the anointed time to get up and do what is right.

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Image credits: (1) Behind The Madness, WordPress (2) Jewish Learning (3) @Motivating Force

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Isaiah 55: 10-11

Thus says the LORD:
Just as from the heavens
the rain and snow come down
And do not return there
till they have watered the earth,
making it fertile and fruitful,
Giving seed to the one who sows
and bread to the one who eats,
So shall my word be
that goes forth from my mouth;
It shall not return to me void,
but shall do my will,
achieving the end for which I sent it.

The Word of the Lord.

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One of my favorite Saints is Damian of Molokai.

Damian was a priest from Belgium, born in 1840. After his ordination, he felt the call to move from his native country, half-way across the globe to the deserted Hawaiian island known as Molokai.

It was home to hundreds of lepers – including children. At that time, when someone contracted leprosy, they were immediately removed from the community, often sent to Molokai, where they’d live and die in despair.

Somehow, word of this hellish island’s existence made its way from Hawaii to Belgium, into Damian’s heart. 

He thought of Christ’s final sermon – the Judgment of the Nations – and was deeply moved by those words, “Whatever you do to the least of my brothers and sisters, you do to me.” 

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So, Damian left his parish, his family, his native language – his entire life behind – and moved to Molokai, where he ministered to lepers for 16 years.

He built a school, taught the children, celebrated Mass, assembled a choir to worship on Sundays, broke bread with the broken, even dug their graves – 600 in all.

Damian loved and served them as if they were Christ until he contracted leprosy himself, dying from it at the tender age of 49.

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What does his life say to us today?

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That we should be receptive to – and challenged by – the Word of God.

“Thus say the LORD,” the prophet Isaiah proclaims in our first reading, “Just as from the heavens, the rain and snow come down and do not return there until they have watered the earth…so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me void.”

Like Father Damian, how has the Word of God changed me?

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May God’s Word take deep root, changing each of us for the better today.

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Image credits: (1) X.com (2) Teaching Catholic Kids (3) Catholic World Report