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Breaking Open the Word

Reflecting on next Sunday’s Gospel BEFORE Mass can bring so much more meaning to your experience of liturgy. Each week we print the following Sunday’s Gospel with some questions for reflection and discussion. ENJOY
Gospel for August 31, 2008 Twenty Second Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Matthew 16:21-27~
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.”
Following the spirit of the law of Jesus is not an easy road. Matthew strongly and deliberately gets this message across as he links the prediction of Jesus’ passion to what has gone before. Suffering denial, accepting and carrying the crosses that come our way…hmmmm, sounds like a rather dark and dreary way to have to live so that eternal happiness is ensured for ourselves. Jesus is not saying that self-denial means living in darkness or being unhappy. He just says that it is difficult to stand up against some of the ways of the world that will lead us to the demise of our own soul. What Jesus is calling us to is a life of compassion, generosity and love. And that can be costly. Next Sunday’s gospel hits us squarely between the eyes. It is not meant to cause fear, but to courageously and actively confront all that steers us from the ways of God. Here are some question that may help us in our discernment.
REFLECTION QUESTIONS: How does Jesus’ question “What will it profit you if you gain the whole world but forfeit your life?” apply to you? Think of a time when you risked speaking up to a person in authority for someone else who was being hurt.
QUESTION FOR FAMILIES AND CHILDREN: {What Would Jesus Do?} was a popular slogan a few years back. Think of a time when you chose to act as Jesus would have when confronted with a difficult decision. Think of a time when you contributed to a community project to help others in need. Describe how your generosity made others happy.