A refleciton on Sunday's Gospel for August 27. Jesus asks his disciples, "Who do you say that I am?"
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00:00 For some time, Jesus has been with the disciples, but on this occasion, he asks them the question,
00:09 "Who do the people say that I am?"
00:11 We're going to hear it this weekend in the Sunday Masses, and they answer in various
00:16 ways, but then Jesus gives an even more pointed direction to the question, and he says personally
00:23 to them, "Who do you say that I am?"
00:27 And maybe there was a pause, maybe they looked at each other not expecting this question,
00:31 but it's Peter who pipes up and he says, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
00:38 And everyone's flabbergasted, and it seems even Jesus, because he says, "Blessed are
00:44 you, Simon, son of Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly
00:49 Father."
00:50 And when did the heavenly Father reveal this to Peter?
00:54 Maybe it began when Jesus called Peter from being a fisherman and set him on the path
01:00 to be a fisher of other people.
01:03 Maybe he felt the hand of the Father on his shoulder saying, "Go with my son and follow
01:08 him.
01:09 There's your destiny.
01:10 There's your happiness."
01:11 Or when he heard Jesus teach the disciples the Our Father, and Peter said to himself,
01:18 "God has a son, and I know him.
01:21 I'm his companion.
01:22 I work with him.
01:23 I'm at his side."
01:24 Or when Peter simply reflected on the mercy of Jesus in the Bread of Life discourse when
01:31 everybody wants to leave, and it's Peter who says, "Lord, to whom shall we go?
01:37 You have the words of eternal life."
01:40 Well, how did Peter have that certainty?
01:42 And it's because he answered this question from his own experience of being with Jesus
01:51 and how the graces of the Father formed that experience and gave him this certainty to
01:57 say that you are the Christ.
01:59 And the point is, Jesus is asking the same question of you and me, and that's the only
02:04 way we can answer it, from our own experience.
02:07 That is to say, how have you, Jesus, been Christ for me?
02:12 How are you the Son of God in my life?
02:14 And we can say, "You forgave me my sins.
02:19 You overlooked all of my weakness and my failing and my imperfections.
02:25 You constantly share your life with me.
02:28 You give me friends.
02:30 You put joys and graces in my life that I could never imagine.
02:34 Impossible things that I could never do apart from you and apart from your grace and your
02:39 power at work in my life are the very substance of my life now.
02:45 And that's how I know you are my Christ, because when I look at my life, my life with you is
02:51 infinitely better than it ever was apart from you."
02:55 And so this weekend, as we hear this question, we want to answer that from our own lived
03:00 experience of Jesus' divinity at work in our life.
03:03 And you know who does this beautifully is Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson, in a beautiful
03:09 reflection on his friendship with Jesus, where he says, "Let me tell you how Jesus treats
03:14 me now.
03:15 He supplies all my wants.
03:18 He gives me more than I dare ask.
03:21 He anticipates my every need.
03:24 He begs me to ask for more.
03:27 He never reminds me of my past ingratitudes.
03:30 He never rebukes me for my past follies.
03:34 He is as good as he is great."
03:38 And that's how we know that Jesus is the Son of God, and we thank him for letting us be
03:44 the child of God with him.
03:46 Amen.
03:47 Amen.
03:47 [BLANK_AUDIO]