Our Lady Of Perpetual Help

Clergy Page

Reflection - Week of August 23

Question of the Week:

Who do I say that Jesus is?

     We are Jesus’ disciples, so he asks us now just as he’d asked the Twelve then, “Who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15). Our answer may depend on the stage of life we’re in, the recency of traumatic events, or our tendency to doubt. May we rest assured that Jesus is always ready to be recognized, through prayer, through the Word, through the Eucharist, or through our neighbor. Answering this question may always be a challenge, but we pray that we may continue to grow in wisdom and understanding.

     While Saint Peter immediately identifies Jesus as the Messiah as the rest of the apostles struggle with the question, Saint Paul grapples with the fact that so many of the people Jesus came to save don’t accept him as the Messiah. He concludes that trying to understand God’s plan is impossible: “How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways!” (Romans 11:33). This is where the gift of faith comes in. Paul famously did not receive that gift until traveling the road to Damascus to persecute those who had already received the gift. Peter’s own faith wavered on the choppy waters of the Sea of Galilee. Hebrews says, “Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). Blest are we to have been given this gift without being able to understand the mind of God.