I have regular weekly dates with my children. One day, I thought of asking a question I’ve never asked them before. “Is there anything that Daddy needs to ask forgiveness for that I haven’t apologized for yet?” Their answers taught me three things: First, I should have asked much earlier. Second, I should ask more frequently. Third, healing miracles happen when we admit we were wrong. 

Funny how we can be very right now and very wrong not long after. Peter was so right a few verses ago and so horribly wrong at the end of the same paragraph. It shows that anyone can be wrong. Including those filled with the Holy Spirit yesterday and those who are wise and experienced. If you think you can never be wrong, you already are!

That’s why it’s always good to listen to others and ask long delayed questions. Do you need to listen to your spouse, your child, your mother-in-law, a subordinate, or a friend? Your stubbornness to listen might be the obstacle that keeps you from thinking “as God does.” 

Jon Escoto (jonmaris@yahoo.com)

reflect

Have you asked the people you love, “Is there anything that I should ask forgiveness for?”

Lord Jesus, as You did to Peter, rebuke me today and let healing come to and through me.

Saint Cajetan, priest, pray for us.

The Israelites complain to Moses once again that they have no water and they want to go back to Egypt. Had they obeyed God, they would have been on their way to conquer the Promised Land. Instead, they will suffer forty years of walking in the wilderness. Let us be people of faith and not people who continually complain against God.

¹ The whole congregation of the children of Israel arrived in the desert of Zin in the first month, and the people settled at Kadesh. It was here that Miriam died, and here that she was buried. ² As the community had no water, they held a council against Moses and Aaron. ³ The people contended with Moses, exclaiming, “Would that we too had perished with our kinsmen in the Lord’s presence! ⁴ Why have you brought the Lord’s assembly into this desert where we and our livestock are dying? ⁵ Why did you lead us out of Egypt, only to bring us to this wretched place which has neither grain nor figs nor vines nor pomegranates? Here there is not even water to drink!” ⁶ But Moses and Aaron went away from the assembly to the entrance of the meeting tent, where they fell prostrate. Then the glory of the Lord appeared to them, ⁷ and the Lord said to Moses, ⁸ “Take the staff and assemble the community, you and your brother Aaron, and in their presence order the rock to yield its waters. From the rock you shall bring forth water for the congregation and their livestock to drink.” ⁹ So Moses took his staff from its place before the Lord, as he was ordered. ¹⁰ He and Aaron assembled the community in front of the rock, where he said to them, “Listen to me, you rebels! Are we to bring water for you out of this rock?” ¹¹ Then, raising his hand, Moses struck the rock twice with his staff, and water gushed out in abundance for the people and their livestock to drink. ¹² But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you were not faithful to me in showing forth my sanctity before the children of Israel, you shall not lead this community into the land I will give them.” ¹³ These are the waters of Meribah, where the children of Israel contended against the Lord, and where the Lord revealed his sanctity among them. 

Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9

R: If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

¹ Come, let us sing joyfully to the Lord; let us acclaim the Rock of our salvation. ² Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us joyfully sing psalm to him. (R) ⁶ Come, let us bow down in worship; let us kneel before the Lord who made us. ⁷ For he is our God, and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides. (R) ⁸ Oh, that today you would hear his voice: “Harden not your hearts as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the desert, ⁹ where your fathers tested me; they tested me though they had seen my works.” (R) 

Gospel | Matthew 16:13-23

Here, Peter makes his great profession of faith in Jesus as the Son of God. Jesus then gives the keys of the Kingdom to Peter—the authority to rule over the Church as pope. Pope Francis continues this ministry of governance that Jesus entrusted to Saint Peter. 

Gospel Acclamation

You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.

¹³ Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” ¹⁴ They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” ¹⁵ He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” ¹⁶ Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” ¹⁷ Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. ¹⁸ And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. ¹⁹ I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” ²⁰ Then he strictly ordered his disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. ²¹ From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised. ²² Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him, “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.” ²³ He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”

Read the Bible in one year! Read 1 MACCABEES 15 - 16 today.

We, human beings, are very creative. We find ways to reject, deny, delay, deflect, and desist anyone or anything we fancy, especially when they go against our strongly held beliefs and convictions.

The ancient Israelites out in the desert surely knew how to deflect all their negativities on Moses and Aaron. They complained. Bitterly. Actively. Seditiously. “Why have you brought us out into the wilderness, that both we and our cattle should die?”

They did not see the bigger picture. They forgot the real reason they had to go out of their comfortable life in Egypt. All they saw was what they missed, instead of focusing on what was to come. And they had a long list of good things that were not to be found in the desert. They stonewalled. They found difficulty hearing the voice of reason, let alone the voice of God.

The disciples’ lives were smooth sailing all along, until the Lord talked about suffering many things, and being put to death, and rising again on the third day. They heard about the suffering and dying part—and all but ignored the rising part. They, too, did their stonewalling script. Peter even began to rebuke him. “Wala namang ganyanan, Lord!” (Don’t talk of such things!)

I, too, have had my own share of denying, delaying, desisting, and deflecting. “I did everything, Lord. After all the sacrifices I have done, is this what You give me in return?” Let us face it. We find ways, each in our own way, to blame God and heap on Him the cause of all our “sweat and care and cumber; sorrows passing number.”

We blame. We frame Him up. We cut down on prayer and cut off communication entirely. I need a scolding like Christ gave Peter: “Get behind me.” Touche’!

Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

reflection question

How is your prayer life affected when you encounter hindrances to your plans and goals?  

Lord, help me to trust that You have the best plans for me, even if all I see at the moment are the difficulties and obstacles. Amen.

Today, I pray for: _________________________________