The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite contemplation of the path from anxiety and trouble to the peace of relationship in Christ.
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| Journey with Him |
The reading from the Prophet Haggai declares the future Glory of the Temple being rebuilt will exceed their memory of the past and be for them an assurance of God’s Presence.
* [2:6–9] These verses emphasize that the total fulfillment of God’s promises to Israel is on the horizon. Such an eschatological event, which will shake the nations (v. 6; cf. v. 21), finds an echo not only in the political revolts in the Persian empire in 521 but also in the formative events of Israel’s history (Ex 19:18; Jgs 5:4; Ps 68:8–9) when God intervened on behalf of the Israelites. The bringing of treasures of all the nations (v. 7) to Jerusalem recalls the visionary passages of Isaiah of the pilgrimage of all nations to Jerusalem (Is 2:2–4; 60:6–9).1
Psalm 43 is a prayer to God in time of trouble.
* [43:3] Your light and your fidelity: a pair of divine attributes personified as guides for the pilgrimage. As in Ps 42:9 the psalmist prays that these divine attributes lead him back to Jerusalem and ultimately to God’s presence in the Temple.2
The Gospel of Luke presents Peter’s Declaration about Jesus and subsequently His foretelling of His Death and Resurrection.
* [9:18–22] This incident is based on Mk 8:27–33, but Luke has eliminated Peter’s refusal to accept Jesus as suffering Son of Man (Mk 8:32) and the rebuke of Peter by Jesus (Mk 8:33). Elsewhere in the gospel, Luke softens the harsh portrait of Peter and the other apostles found in his Marcan source (cf. Lk 22:39–46, which similarly lacks a rebuke of Peter that occurs in the source, Mk 14:37–38).3
Larry Gillick, S.J. comments that not all will make the same response as Peter. Jesus does not convince, but invites a free affirmation of Who He is to them.
This form of intimacy or knowing, involves the knower’s also being known by the other, the known. Intimacy involves knowing as we are known. Peter pipes up not merely as a spectator to all the activities of Jesus, but as someone who has received himself, because of his receiving Jesus as a real human person. It is rather easy for us to reflect what answer we would give today to Jesus’ question about His identity. The more intimate reflection is who is Jesus saying we are as we become more familiar in our knowing of Him.4
Don Schwager quotes “Peter confesses that Jesus is God's Anointed Son and Savior of all,” by Cyril of Alexandria (376-444 AD).
"You see the skillfulness of the question. He [Jesus] did not at once say, 'Who do you say that I am?' He refers to the rumor of those that were outside their company. Then, having rejected it and shown it unsound, he might bring them back to the true opinion. It happened that way. When the disciples had said, 'Some, John the Baptist, and others, Elijah, and others, that some prophet of those in old time has risen up,' he said to them, 'But you, who do you say that I am?' Oh! how full of meaning is that word you! He separates them from all others, that they may also avoid the opinions of others. In this way, they will not conceive an unworthy idea about him or entertain confused and wavering thoughts. Then they will not also imagine that John had risen again, or one of the prophets. 'You,' he says, 'who have been chosen,' who by my decree have been called to the apostleship, who are the witnesses of my miracles. Who do you say that I am?'" (excerpt from COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 49)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Luke 9:18-22 asserts that our identity exists in the web of relationships that defines us and sustains us: our parents, our siblings, our close friends, and our children. All of them have helped shape us in ways that no single card could ever contain!
When Jesus asks his disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” Peter replies, correctly, “The Christ” (Luke 9:20). But to what extent is he aware of the way in which being with Jesus has shaped his own identity? Peter and the others have been following Jesus for some time now, and he has made an indelible mark on them. He has reshaped them to the point that they are committed to following him even to his death. They may not be completely faithful to him, and they have much more to learn, but they have already been changed in dramatic ways.6
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, shares that Authentic spirituality emphasizes a real equivalence and mutuality between the one who sees and what can be seen. There is a symbiosis between the heart/mind of the seer and what they will pay attention to.
All being (earth and planets, waters, all growing things, animals, humans, angels, and God) can rightly be spoken of with “one voice,” as John Duns Scotus (1266–1308) put it. We Franciscans call it “the Univocity of Being.” What I am you also are, and so is the world. Creation is one giant symphony of mutual sympathy.
To understand this, I must know that I am, at least in part, the very thing I am seeking. In fact, that is what makes me seek it! But most do not know this good news yet. God cannot be found “out there” until God is first found “in here,” within ourselves, as Saint Augustine (354–430) profoundly expressed in many ways in his Confessions. Then we can almost naturally see God in others and in all of creation, too. What you seek is what you are. The search for God and the search for our True Self are finally the same search. St. Francis of Assisi’s all-night prayer, “Who are you, O God, and who am I?” [1] is the most honest prayer we can offer.7
Friar Jude Winkler describes the frustration of the returning exiles who are rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem under the guidance of Haggai. Do the best and God will provide the rest. Friar Jude reminds us that the Son of Man is connected to Daniel 7 and the Suffering Servant of Isaiah.
Meditation on our identity as shaped by our relationships highlights the centrality of our mission to know Jesus even as we are known by Him.
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