Friday of week 25 in Ordinary Time
Gospel: Luke 9:18-22In today’s Gospel, Peter gives the decisive answer to Jesus’ question, “Who do you say I am?”: “The Christ of God.” Yet immediately Jesus begins to speak about rejection, suffering, death, and resurrection. It is as though He is telling Peter: you have given the right answer, but you must still discover what that answer truly means. It is through the Passion that one must meet the Christ of God. We cannot know Jesus fully only through His miracles, consolations, teachings, or moments of glory; we must also encounter Him as the One who loves to the point of suffering, who remains faithful when rejected, who gives Himself when wounded, and who transforms death itself through self-giving love. The Passion reveals what kind of Christ He is: not a Messiah who escapes human suffering, but one who enters its deepest darkness and fills it with the love of God. This also changes the way we understand our own moments of passion, our suffering, rejection, disappointments, sacrifices, and losses. They are not automatically good, nor must we seek them, but when united with Christ they can become privileged places of encounter with Him. There we may discover a Christ whom comfort alone could never reveal to us: the Christ who stays, carries, forgives, surrenders, and finally rises. Peter’s confession becomes complete only when “the Christ of God” is recognized in the Crucified and Risen Lord; likewise, our faith matures when we discover that through the Passion we can enter more deeply into the mystery of who Christ truly is. Let’s reflect: When I pass through suffering, rejection, or sacrifice, am I able to recognize it as a place where I can encounter more deeply the Christ of God, who passed through the Cross into the glory of the Resurrection?
Don Giorgio