SUNDAY, AUGUST 30,2020 - Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
August29,2020
Dear Parishioners and Friends,
In the sixteenth chapter of Matthew Jesus begins to make clear what we reverently refer to as the Mystery of the Cross. In verse 21 the gospel records the nature of Jesus’ preaching: “From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” The Cross and Christ and thus Christianity are inseparable. Christianity without the Cross is phony.
Yet Peter doesn’t seem to understand. Perhaps he still thinks that to follow the Lord will be the path to fame and glory? Perhaps he sees the cross as optional or peripheral to following the Lord? Jesus lets him know in abrupt, gripping terms, in the strongest language, that He means what He is preaching: “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me; for you are not on the side of God, but of men.” Thus we can readily conclude that to reject the Cross is to oppose the Lord. The rejection of the Cross is linked with Satan.
In our modern culture Satan has become a popular subject. Hollywood continues to be fascinated with the subject because there is money to be made. Without a doubt, many false views are presented about the devil, contrary to the truth. Usually his knowledge and power are grossly exaggerated as if he were equal to God. That cannot be. Then there is the spooky element meant to scare the naïve and probably the young who know little of the Catechism, and what the Church authentically teaches. Yet in the encounter between Jesus and Peter we realize that the diabolic, the demonic, essentially means to reject the Cross, the Way of Salvation, the Way of Love.
In verse 24 Jesus reveals the Way of Love, the Way to the Father in His unchanging teaching, the doctrine for all time: “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” Thus there is no short cut to heaven. A permissive, anything goes, mentality can never be Christian. The words and teaching of the Lord could not be more explicit and stronger. There is one tried and true path to glory, which Jesus taught with His full authority and which He obediently showed to all by His own example. This message has always been counter-cultural. Any other version is counterfeit. Then who can be saved? With Jesus all things are possible. Follow Him!
Yours in the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Fr. Mark G. Mazza, Pastor