Claretian Communications Foundation, Inc.
25TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
Psalter: Week 1/ (White)
St. Vincent de Paul, priest
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 144: 1b, 2abc, 3-4: Blessed be the Lord, my Rock!
1st Reading: Ecclesiastes 3: 1-11
There is a given time for everything and a time for every happening under heaven:
A time for giving birth, a time for dying; a time for planting, a time for uprooting.
A time for killing, a time for healing; a time for knocking down, a time for building.
A time for tears, a time for laughter; a time for mourning, a time for dancing.
A time for throwing stones, a time for gathering stones; a time for embracing, a time to refrain from embracing.
A time for searching, a time for losing; a time for keeping, a time for throwing away.
A time for tearing, a time for sewing; a time to be silent and a time to speak.
A time for loving, a time for hating; a time for war, a time for peace.
What profit is there for a man from all his toils?
Finally I considered the task God gave to the humans. He made everything fitting in its time, but he also set eternity in their hearts, although they are not able to embrace the work of God from the beginning to the end.
Gospel: Luke 9: 18-22
One day, when Jesus was praying alone, not far from his disciples, he asked them, “What do people say about me?”
And they answered, “Some say, that you are John the Baptist; others say, that you are Elijah; and still others, that you are one of the prophets of old, risen from the dead.”
Again Jesus asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered, “The Messiah of God.”
Then Jesus spoke to them, giving them strict orders not to tell this to anyone.
And he added, “The Son of Man must suffer many things. He will be rejected by the elders and chief priests and teachers of the law, and be put to death. Then after three days he will be raised to life.”
REFLECTION:
“The Messiah of God.”
Peter’s profession of faith is recounted by the synoptic Gospels (cf. Mk 8:27-30; Mt 16:13-20; Lk 9:18-22).
Today’s Gospel is the Lucan account. When Jesus asked his disciples what they could say about Jesus, Peter answered: “The Messiah of God.” (Lk 9:20) While Mark phrased Peter’s answer as “You are the Christ.” (Mk 8:29) and Matthew put it “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Mt 16:16), Luke put stress on Jesus as the Messiah of God.
We may reflect on the point that many of Jesus’ followers thought of him as the Messiah who would liberate Israel from the political clout of the Roman empire to regain their independence. Jesus was regarded by many as the political Messiah. Perhaps, Luke wanted to accentuate that the messiahship of Jesus was not merely political as thought by many of his contemporaries. Jesus is clearly the Christ of God.
The Messiah of God is to bring total liberation from both the physical enslavement and the enslavement to sin.
How do we regard Jesus’ messiahship now? Do we really regard him as the Messiah of God? If we do, how then it is manifested in our everyday life?
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