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Spiritual Reflection
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June 17, 2010 | | | |  | Spiritual Reflection for the 12th Sunday in
Ordinary Time
June 20, 2010
We know Jesus is the Messiah, but what
does that mean
in our lives?
We admit that Jesus is the Christ of God, the Messiah who would bring salvation to the world. However, there are many different aspects of who Jesus is, and how he lived his life that may confuse us. There is the lowly and vulnerable Christ Child born in Bethlehem; and then there is the Christ of miracles. There is the Christ of the crucifixion, and the glorious Christ, risen from the dead. Coming to terms with who we say Christ is to us is an essential part of our faith.
Jesus asks, Who do you say that I am? We are to come to know Him as both God and man, fully divine and fully human. As God, he has always been and always will be the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. As man, he came into the world at a specific time and place, lived, died, was buried and rose from the dead. We cannot fully understand how all of this happened. That is because it is a mystery. We can look forward to its being clearer when we get to heaven.
In today's Gospel, which speaks of Jesus as the promised Messiah, He tells his disciples that he will suffer, be killed, and rise on the third day. Just imagine the effect that must have had on Peter and the others. Clearly, Jesus is not the type of Messiah they had expected. It must have been very difficult to hear the prediction of suffering and death at the hands of the Jewish leaders. Then, instead of being able to show power over their enemies, Jesus explains that to be a follower of his his means following him in suffering and death.
It is not easy to surrender our lives to God. The important thing to remember is that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God who came to bring us salvation so we might come to enjoy eternal life in heaven. He has shown us the way, but it is up to us to follow Him. | | | | | |
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 Our Lady of Lourdes - In 1858, in a grotto, near Lourdes in southern France, Our Lady appeared 18 times to Bernadette Soubirous, a young peasant girl. She revealed herself as the Immaculate Conception, asked that a chapel be built on the site of the vision, and told the girl to drink from a fountain in the grotto. When Bernadette dug at a spot designated by the apparition, a spring began to flow. The water from this still flowing spring has shown remarkable healing power, though it contains no curative property that science can identify. Lourdes has become the most famous modern shrine of Our Lady. |
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