We never know how much real faith we have until it is put to the test in some fierce storm; and that is the reason why the Saviour is on board. If you are ever to be strong in the Lord and the power of His might, your strength will be born in some storm.
- Anonymous
(What “fierce storm” are you facing at this time in life? Invite Christ to come on board the ship of your soul to steer you through these troubled times.)
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GN 9:1-13; PS 102:16-18, 19-21, 29 AND 22-23
MK 8:27-33
Jesus and his disciples set out
for the villages of Caesarea Philippi.
Along the way he asked his disciples,
“Who do people say that I am?”
They said in reply,
“John the Baptist, others Elijah,
still others one of the prophets.”
And he asked them,
“But who do you say that I am?”
Peter said to him in reply,
“You are the Christ.”
Then he warned them not to tell anyone about him.
He began to teach them
that the Son of Man must suffer greatly
and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed, and rise after three days.
He spoke this openly.
Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
At this he turned around and, looking at his disciples,
rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan.
You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”
Reflection on the Scriptures |
The message (in today's Gospel) is that it is not easy to be a follower of Jesus. It can lead to pain, to struggle, and to suffering. And when these occur in our lives, we often ask “Why?” - which reminds me of a metaphor used in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: A man found a cocoon of an emperor moth, so, he took it home so he could watch it come out of its cocoon. One day a small opening appeared
and he sat and watched as the moth struggled for several hours as it forced its body through the little hole. As he continued to struggle he appeared to get stuck. The man, in his kindness, decided to help the moth and he took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of cocoon. The moth emerged easily, but had a swollen body and small shriveled wings. The man continued to watch with the expectation that the wings would enlarge and expand to support the body, which would contract with
time. Neither happened. In fact, the little moth spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings and it was never able to fly. What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the moth to get through the tiny opening was the way of forcing fluid from the body of the moth into the wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved it freedom from the cocoon. Freedom and flight would
only come after the struggle. By depriving the moth of struggle, he deprived the moth of health and a good life.
- by Michael Kavan
Revelations of Divine Love
- by Julian of Norwich
Fourteenth Revelation, Chapter 55
“Christ is our Way”—”Mankind shall be restored from double death”
And thus was my understanding led of God to see in Him and to understand, to perceive and to know, that our soul is made-trinity, like to the unmade blissful Trinity, known and loved from without beginning, and in the making oned to the Maker, as it is aforesaid. This sight was full sweet and marvellous to behold, peaceable, restful, sure, and delectable.
And because of the worshipful oneing that was thus made by God betwixt the soul and body, it behoveth needs to be that mankind shall be restored from double death: which restoring might never be until the time that the Second Person in the Trinity had taken the lower part of man’s nature; to Whom the highest [part] was oned in the First-making. And these two parts were in Christ, the higher and the lower: which is but one
Soul; the higher part was one in peace with God, in full joy and bliss; the lower part, which is sense-nature, suffered for the salvation of mankind.
And these two parts [in Christ] were seen and felt in the Eighth Shewing, in which my body was fulfilled with feeling and mind of Christ’s Passion and His death, and furthermore with this was a subtile feeling and privy inward sight of the High Part which I was shewed in the same time when I could not, [even] for the friendly proffer [made to me], look up into Heaven: and that was because of that mighty beholding [that I
had] of the Inward Life. Which Inward Life is that High Substance, that precious Soul, [of Christ], which is endlessly rejoicing in the Godhead.
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