In last week’s Gospel St. Peter proclaimed Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God.For this profession of faith, Jesus called him Blessed and the Rock upon whom the Church would be built. Today, Jesus calls him not Blessed but Satan. Why such a reversal?
When Our Lord explained that in Jerusalem he would suffer greatly and die, Peter rebuked Our Lord. He would have none of that sort of talk. For Peter, Jerusalem was to be a place of glory—where Jesus would establish a new and powerful kingdom, a glory he would share!
Jesus then rebukes Peter for he has seriously misread God’s plan and has a long way to go in understanding his mission. He must grasp a key aspect of discipleship: Whoever wishes to come after me, must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.
Origen, a Church Father, suggested that Jesus was saying to Peter, You are to follow me in the way I choose, not to try to lead me in the way you would like me to go.” St. Augustine wondered if Jesus thought of his temptation in the desert—Satan at it again, this time through Peter. Peter had to learn, as do we, thatwhen Jesus invites us to follow him, the cross is embossed at the very center of the invitation.[Bernardin, The Journey to Peace p. 30]
The cross is the promise of the Lord to his disciples. It’s what aligns us to him. But like Peter, our natural inclination is to flee from the crosses of life. Yet we cannot avoid them: a struggle with studies, illness, a handicap, depression, an addiction, conflict within our family or an abusive relationship. These and others are crosses the Lord invites us to take up, often like Simon of Cyrene…unwillingly.
From a human perspective, the cross makes no sense— but Our Lord has given the cross a new meaning by transforming it from an instrument of torture and death into a sign of ardent love and new life. Our Lord’s teaching on denial, renunciation, taking the narrow road, dying to self, and carrying the cross are what lead us to life. Fr. Bernard Chevignard, OP can help us here:
“What enables the soul to take the narrow road, is that it does not pay too much attention that the road is narrow, but rather that it leads to life. It is not so much a matter of taking up the cross as of choosing to love and follow Christ…So it is, that the renouncement the soul feared so much, is engulfed by the impulse of love. Do not pay too much attention to what you are to renounce but look at the Lord with so much love that you will find that you have given up all that you feared to lose.” Gospel Spirituality, p. 38
Our challenge is not to flee from the crosses that come, but to embrace them, seeing them as potential moments of grace that shape and transform our life. There are many examples: the blind person who develops a keen sense of listening; the handicapped person who empathizes with those who suffer; the recovering alcoholic who becomes a mentor to those who struggle with addiction; the parent of a special needs child who inspires others to greater love; those who have known the pain of a broken or abusive relationship, becoming “wounded healers.”
Father of mercy and love, help me to accept, even embrace, the crosses I encounter in my life. Transform my weakness into steadfastness so that I may say yes to you even when what you ask of me seems more than I can bear. Do not hide your face from me. Walk with me and by the strength of your grace help me to carry it to the glory of heaven.