Homily for the Twenty-Second Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year A
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.
Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him,
“God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.”
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.”Then Jesus said to his disciples,
“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself,
take up his cross, and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world
and forfeit his life?
Or what can one give in exchange for his life?
For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father’s glory,
and then he will repay all according to his conduct.”-Matthew 16:21-27
For all the severity with which St. Peter is rebuked by Our Lord today, there is to be found here a reason for a proportionately great consolation. As in all the Gospels, the Savior’s words are meant not only for those who received them directly but also for all his followers throughout time. And in this passage he makes this abundantly clear.
Peter is, quite understandably from a human perspective, very troubled by Jesus’ assertion that he is going to have to suffer greatly and be rejected and killed. He seems not to notice, however, the amazing fact of the Lord’s prediction of his resurrection after his trials. As one who has just been given a very special role among the disciples, he has the courage to take the Lord to task and oppose what he is saying.
Notice, though how quickly the Savior changes the direction of his words after the rebuke. He goes on to speak to all of the disciples. His message is clear: if you want to follow Jesus, you must do as he did—you must also take up the cross of suffering and shame and follow after him. What he must endure, his followers must endure. They are united in a single fate: the mystery of the cross. It is thus only in losing our life for and with Christ that we find it and take it up again.
Nothing else in the world, ultimately, can take the place of this deep union and conformity with Christ that is found in our suffering with him. The result of this union is nothing short of life from the dead and an eternity of victorious life in the kingdom of heaven.
The sweetest, surest, most consoling thing about being a Christian is that we are incorporated into his life and so into his death and glory. Christ crucified is not a distant or merely transcendent divinity. He is not just like the god-heroes of the ancient world who perform great deeds and are admired by their devotees. Rather, he intends for all who are his to share in his great deeds and triumphs. He is the Master, the Teacher, the Example, not just a superhero.
All this comes about by our resolution to follow him on the way of the cross: our cross and his. This is a program that requires us to live our life in the midst of this world, with those around us in family and work and society, in such a way that we bear up under the inevitable sorrows, struggles, losses, longings, defeats, disappointments, misunderstandings, maltreatments, pains, and persecutions that come our way. These come in daily doses of sufferings great and small. Nulla dies sine cruce was the motto of St. Josemaria Escriva: “No day without its cross!”
This is almost the easiest formula for holiness and a good defense at the judgment: to accept the trials that come our way, dealing with them in patience and love, without giving in to despair, but always living in the sure hope that Jesus’ promises are true: “To the one who conquers, I will give the hidden manna”; yes, the hidden manna that is his very self, dwelling within us.
Our morning offering, so dear to Catholics, gives us this as we offer all the sufferings of each day “in union with the holy sacrifice of the Mass offered throughout the world for all the intentions of his Sacred Heart.” There is no better way of ordering our experiences, many of which we cannot predict, but all of which we can offer beforehand, to our ultimate end which is perfect union with Christ in glory.
Now I said “almost” the easiest formula for holiness. The cross is not what we would describe is easy, at least if we think of its suffering. But if we think of the company we keep as we bear our crosses, then his “yoke is easy, his burden light.”
Whose company did Christ have on the cross? Why, his mother’s of course. Her company made even Christ’s sufferings easier. She was a companion to him, and companions are always a source of strength and consolation.
This is why St. Louis de Montfort teaches that the easiest and swiftest way to find the wisdom of the Cross is in joining ourselves to Our Lady. The thought of this makes suffering less daunting and troublesome to us. Let us seek her help in all our struggles, and she will go with us on the way of the cross, and stand by us as she did her Son, ready to rejoice in our victory in Jesus, won by her assistance.
So let us always take Mary along as we suffer, and she will quickly become the “cause of our joy.”