Here is a summary of my early morning homily.
For the past couple of years, I have been thinking more and more about the importance of paying attention to how we use our senses, i.e., what we look at, who we listen to, what we touch, what we allow ourselves to remember and what we imagine. This seems so central to a healthy spiritual life. Isn’t it true that in our contemporary world, what attracts us are the glitz and glamour, the well-to-do, those who are richly dressed, have wonderful stories to tell, the sports heroes and others.
Yet, today, we hear in the Readings, that it is the poor to whom we are to attend. It is the poor we are to raise up in dignity, elevate in importance. It is the poor who are to catch attention and we are to honor.
Tough stuff for a lot of us.
God chose to reveal Himself in poverty, He chose to reveal Himself in a poor man, His Son Jesus. God chose to reveal his majesty and glory through weakness and brokenness. God chose to suffer in the flesh of Jesus Christ. It is the Cross that displays for us the grandeur of God’s love and grace.
Peter, in the Gospel today, got the question right (“Who do you say that I am?”) and he got the answer right (“You are the Christ!”) but he didn’t understand what he said. Peter expected a grand Messiah, a Messiah adorned with earthly grandeur, a Messiah who would catch his attention. He got it wrong and Jesus immediately corrects him (“Get behind me Satan! You are thinking as men think, not God.)>
Every morning on Catholic altars throughout the world, God reveals Himself in a small piece of bread, bread that is the simplest form of bread made…. just wheat flour and water…. and in a small portion of wine. God reveals himself in simple bread and wine. There He is in all His glory.
Let us pray for the faith needed to see God revealed to us in poverty and humility. And thank Him for this great expression of his love for us!
