The first reading for the liturgy today is one of those old chestnuts that we recognize immediately. In a conversation I once had with Bishop Conlon, he told me that each time he read the Scriptures, he came away with a different thought, a different perspective. I recalled this comment as I was preparing my homily for today and challenged myself to read the passage to find a new message or a new perspective. I am happy to say that it worked.
As I read each line slowly and thought about it, I realized that almost every human being’s life was filled with the “times” that are enumerated in this passage. However, each human life is probably experiencing only one of these “times” in the present moment. This led me to review the list again and to try and identify in which of these times I was presently occupied. This in turn led me to try to identify each of the times and how they played out in my life. I have no intention of going through the whole list with you or to even tell you which of these times I feel I am in right now. That is a task for each of us as individuals to answer in a quiet moment of prayer and perhaps even in a quiet moment of journaling.
The other thing that I realized as I was making this review is that the answer to the question that Jesus poses in the Gospel today would probably depend upon the time that I was or am in at the present moment. Just as the people were guessing or proposing an answer to who this Jesus of Nazareth was, we also would probably answer the question differently at different times in our life.
Peter’s response to the question is obviously the correct answer to the question. However, even though he found the voice to say it out loud at that moment, we also know that he was not able to say it out loud later when he was asked if he was a disciple of Jesus in the courtyard of the high priest’s residence. So even his answer was very much dependent upon in which time he was at the moment the question was asked.
Throughout our day, we are asked this question over and over again. Through the Eucharist, we receive a daily reminder of who this Jesus is in our own lives.
Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator