Sometimes, in reading the Scriptures, it can happen that we
might come upon a word or a phrase that seems to stand out and provoke greater
meditation.
In our Gospel, it is a simple question, one that Jesus poses after asking who people say that He is, it is a short but demanding question and a question that, indeed, can haunt us and, at the same time, lead us to the greatest depths of meditation if we so allow it.
In our Gospel, it is a simple question, one that Jesus poses after asking who people say that He is, it is a short but demanding question and a question that, indeed, can haunt us and, at the same time, lead us to the greatest depths of meditation if we so allow it.
That is why I am going to do something different today, this
homily is going to be more a meditation and a reflection on this most
fundamental and important of questions.
Who do you say that I am?
Every time we walk into this church, every time we come
before Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament, every time we approach the altar
for communion, as clear as I am speaking to you now, we should hear this simple
question echo in our hearts and in our minds.
Who do you say that I am?
When God allows the, seemingly, worst in our lives, when it
seems as though He has given us too much, when He looks at us the way He did
the disciples and demands us to take up His cross and to follow Him, when He
asks us to show Him how much we love Him, not by our words but by our actions,
then He says:
Who do you say that I am?
When we find ourselves angry at God, when we try to avoid
Him as much as we can, when we would rather ignore Him than have to deal with
Him, as it were, when we would rather run away from His embrace than to be held
in His love, when His Will is no longer ours and He asks us:
Who do you say that I am?
In the midst of temptation, when we are seduced by the
world, by the Devil, by our own desires, and Jesus stands before us, His words
clear, His question more a plea, a desire for us to show Him our love
Who do you say that I am?
It is not who am I but who do you say that I am, it demands a profession of faith, an examination
of belief, a true test of our love, because we can say who He is, but do we
know who He is?
Who do you say that I am?
It is not the world that can reveal the mystery of God, it
is not even ourselves who can do so, it is our faith, and if we struggle with
our faith, then we struggle with the core of who we are, we struggle with what
we believe, we struggle to know who God truly is, because we are made in His
image and in His likeness and if, for whatever reason, we fail to see that or
do not believe that then the question will haunt us
Who do you say that I am?
And, what’s more is that it is only when we profess our faith,
when we know what we believe and who we believe in that the Church can be
established, that a creed can be spoken, that a common belief can lead to a
common profession, “God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God.”
Because without it, then the question still remains
Who do you say that I am?
And it is more than just saying You are Christ, no, it is saying I believe, and not just I believe but that
I know with all the confidence in the world that that bread and wine become, in
every sense of the word, the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ, that
what we profess every Sunday means something, that what we say reflects who we
are and what we do on a daily basis, that it shows why we believe, who we
believe and what believe, it shows us that indeed we are called by God, that we
profess our Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic faith and that we will do so until
our dying breath. Otherwise, the question then still remains:
Who do you say that I am?
Let us then seriously ask ourselves this question often, let
us look upon Jesus, our Savior, our God and our love, and let us let His
question echo frequently throughout our lives, so that we not only ask
ourselves but, indeed, know how we will respond:
Who do you say that I am?
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