Daily Reading
First Reading
Jeremiah 20:7-9
O Lord, you have enticed me,
and I was enticed;
you have overpowered me,
and you have prevailed.
I have become a laughingstock all day long;
everyone mocks me.
For whenever I speak, I must cry out,
I must shout, “Violence and destruction!”
For the word of the Lord has become for me
a reproach and derision all day long.
If I say, “I will not mention him,
or speak any more in his name,”
then within me there is something like a burning fire
shut up in my bones;
I am weary with holding it in,
and I cannot.
Psalm
Psalm 63:2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9
So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
beholding your power and glory.
Because your steadfast love is better than life,
my lips will praise you.
So I will bless you as long as I live;
I will lift up my hands and call on your name.
My soul is satisfied as with a rich feast,
and my mouth praises you with joyful lips
when I think of you on my bed,
and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
for you have been my help,
and in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy.
My soul clings to you;
your right hand upholds me.
But those who seek to destroy my life
shall go down into the depths of the earth.
Second Reading
Romans 12:1-2
I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Gospel Reading
Matthew 16:21-27
From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?
“For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done.
Reflection
Friends, last week we heard the great Gospel describing Peter’s confession. Because he says correctly who Jesus is, he is declared rock, the firm ground upon which the Church shall be built. And just moments later—our Gospel for today—he is told that he is a Satan, a stumbling block, thinking not as God thinks but as men think. What accounts for this rather remarkable reversal?
In the Gospel, it’s always relatively simple: He doesn’t get the cross. The entire momentum of the life of Jesus is toward the cross. All sorts of forces are trying to keep him from it—some out of self-interest, some out of genuine concern. But they all have this in common: They don’t get it; they don’t get him.
So Peter, probably out of genuine love for Jesus, urges him away from the passion: “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.” Having correctly confessed who Jesus is, Peter promptly forgets what that entails. Being the Son of God, he thought, meant power and lordship, not ignominy and death.