{"id":8453,"date":"2021-09-11T09:00:14","date_gmt":"2021-09-11T13:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stgenevieve-stmaurice.org\/parish\/?p=8453"},"modified":"2021-09-09T15:24:22","modified_gmt":"2021-09-09T19:24:22","slug":"from-fr-tom-52","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stgenevieve-stmaurice.org\/parish\/2021\/09\/11\/from-fr-tom-52\/","title":{"rendered":"From Fr. Tom"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hopefully your week was blessed. <\/span><\/p>\n

In today\u2019s Gospel Jesus asks the disciples <\/span>\u201cwho do <\/span><\/strong>people say that I am? \u201d<\/strong> <\/span>And the disciples don\u2019t know. Some <\/span>say John the Baptist, still others Elijah, some say one of the <\/span>prophets. But Jesus goes deeper: <\/span>\u201cbut who do you say <\/span>that I am? \u201d <\/span><\/strong>Peter responds, <\/span>\u201cYou are the Christ!\u201d <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

And here is a beautiful biblical example of how someone <\/span>can be both right and wrong at the same time. Peter <\/span>thought, like many others, that Jesus was the new King <\/span>David, who also was called Christos, an anointed one. The <\/span>word for anointed one in Hebrew is where we get the word <\/span>Messiah; in Greek, it\u2019s where we get the word Christ. Peter, <\/span>like so many others, hoped Jesus would be a new King <\/span>David who would bring back freedom and glory to Israel.<\/span><\/p>\n

The problem was: Peter and Jesus were not on the <\/span>same page at that moment about what being the Christ <\/span>meant. It wasn\u2019t until after the resurrection that Peter finally <\/span>got it. <\/span><\/p>\n

If someone ever tries to tell you about a Jesus who is <\/span>accepting of our sinful behavior, it\u2019s not our Jesus, it\u2019s not <\/span>our Messiah. It is a trap we can all fall into. What a surprise <\/span>it is when we discover that the Jesus we meet in the <\/span>Gospels is sometimes quite different than the Jesus we <\/span>have led ourselves to believe in. We can all be guilty of it at <\/span>times, even priests, bishops, cardinals and popes. Judging <\/span>by our Gospel reading today, even the disciples fall into that <\/span>trap. <\/span><\/p>\n

Being the Christ meant, <\/span>\u201cto suffer greatly, be rejected, <\/span><\/strong>be killed, and rise in three days.\u201d<\/strong> <\/span>And imagine the shock <\/span>the disciples must have felt when Christ said, <\/span>\u201cwhoever <\/span>wishes to come after me must deny themselves, take up <\/span>their cross, and follow me.\u201d <\/span><\/strong>This is our Messiah.<\/span><\/p>\n

But Jesus is asking us today: <\/span>\u201cWho do you say that I <\/span><\/strong>am?\u201d<\/strong> <\/span>This might be the most important question Jesus will <\/span>ever ask us. What is our answer? Who is the Jesus we pray <\/span>to at night? Is it really Jesus as revealed to us in the <\/span>Gospels or simply a projection of our best self, a self<\/span>–<\/span>justifying image? It is a good question to ask ourselves as <\/span>individuals. It is good question to ask ourselves as the <\/span>Church. Here is a good spiritual test. If the Jesus we pray to <\/span>always agrees with us, chances are we are in trouble. It can <\/span>be a very healthy spiritual exercise to consider the image of <\/span>the Jesus we have in our mind with what is presented to us <\/span>in the Gospels and in our worship together. <\/span><\/p>\n

A good starting place might be to pick up our bible this <\/span>week, blow off the dust and start reading it again. <\/span>\u201cWho do <\/span>you say that I am?\u201d <\/span><\/strong>How do we respond? Jesus is waiting <\/span>for us to answer, in thought, word and deed. How do we <\/span>think of Jesus? How do we speak of Jesus? How do we <\/span>make the world a better place as a disciple of Jesus? How <\/span>does our belief in our Loving God help us become more <\/span>loving and truthful in the world we find ourselves? <\/span><\/p>\n

Do not stop searching for your personal answer to the <\/span>question: <\/span>\u201cWho is Jesus for me?\u201d<\/strong> <\/span>until the moment you <\/span>profess like Peter: <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou are the Christ, Son of the living God.\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

September 11th<\/u><\/span><\/strong>
\nOn this solemn day of memorial in the United States, <\/span>remembering the terrorists attacks of September 11, 2001 <\/span>and the many that perished that day, the many that lost their <\/span>loved ones, may we all pray and work for unity, <\/span>understanding, love and peace in our country and in the <\/span>world. <\/span><\/p>\n

Welcoming Weekend<\/u><\/strong>
\n<\/span>This weekend we celebrate Welcoming Sunday in our <\/span>parish. Every three months, we recognize, welcome, and <\/span>bless our new parishioners. Please help other people, <\/span>especially our guests and visitors, realize (and not only on <\/span>that weekend) how open, hospitable, and welcoming our <\/span>faith community is.<\/span><\/p>\n

Parish Picnic 2021<\/u><\/strong>
\n<\/span>You are all invited to our parish picnic this Sunday, <\/span>September 12<\/span>th<\/span>, after the 11 am Mass until 3 pm. Come with <\/span>your children and grandchildren and invite your friends and <\/span>neighbors. Let\u2019s make this a day of celebration for our parish <\/span>and neighborhood. <\/span>Young Adults gathering <\/span>On Wednesday, September 15<\/span>th <\/span>we invite The Young <\/span>Adults for the first formation evening when we\u2019ll discuss <\/span>\u201cWhat Shall I Do That I May Inherit Eternal Life?\u201d. We will <\/span>gather in the church at 7 pm for the celebration of the Holy <\/span>Eucharist and fellowship in the Activity Center afterwards. <\/span>Please join us! <\/span><\/p>\n

Have a blessed week. <\/span><\/p>\n

Fr. Tom<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hopefully your week was blessed. In today\u2019s Gospel Jesus asks the disciples \u201cwho do people say that I am? \u201d And the disciples don\u2019t know. Some say John the Baptist, still others Elijah, some say one of the prophets. But Jesus goes deeper: \u201cbut who do you say that I am? \u201d Peter responds, \u201cYou are the Christ!\u201d And here is a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[151],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fr-tom","ctfw-no-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stgenevieve-stmaurice.org\/parish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stgenevieve-stmaurice.org\/parish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stgenevieve-stmaurice.org\/parish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgenevieve-stmaurice.org\/parish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgenevieve-stmaurice.org\/parish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8453"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stgenevieve-stmaurice.org\/parish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8453\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8454,"href":"https:\/\/stgenevieve-stmaurice.org\/parish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8453\/revisions\/8454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stgenevieve-stmaurice.org\/parish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgenevieve-stmaurice.org\/parish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgenevieve-stmaurice.org\/parish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}