Mark 8:27-33

Reflection

Jesus asks his disciples who people say that he is. They reply that others think he is John the Baptist, Elijah, or some other prophet. Then Jesus asks them who they think he is. Peter replies that Jesus is the Christ. Jesus then commands them not to tell anyone and instructs them on the suffering he must undergo. Peter starts to rebuke Jesus for speaking like this, when Jesus tells Peter to “get behind me, Satan!”

Peter is uncomfortable with the idea of Jesus suffering. Jesus tells him that he is thinking like man does, not on the side of God. We, too, often reject the idea of suffering. We see it in purely human terms, believing what society at large tells us – suffering is bad. Yet Jesus himself suffered to redeem us – should we not follow in the Lord’s footsteps in some way, if we wish to enter heaven?

Let us pray to always be on the side of God, even when we don’t understand his plans. Ask for the grace to embrace suffering for the Lord, and not reject it like Satan wants us to. Jesus is the Christ, he did suffer and die for us, and he asks us to join him.

Saint of the Day

St. Francisco Marto: 1908 – 1919

“I don’t want to be anything. I want to die and go to heaven.” St. Francisco Marto (one of the children who saw Mary at Fatima)