The Third Day

We meet deep human concerns and feelings in the gospel today. Peter is shocked to the core that Jesus would die; so shocked that he almost later seemed to forget that Jesus promised that he would rise on the third day. Jesus talks very seriously about the cost of following him, like the cost of following any commitment in life.

Jesus invites us to live at the deepest level of ourselves. In the area of life where we live and love, laugh and cry, worry and en­joy, hurt and forgive. In all these very personal sides of life, Jesus dwells, since he says that he makes his home in us.

We can call it a sort of “third day’ hope. Nothing except love, which is eternal, was final for Jesus. For all the worst things of life there was a third day. The day on which hope would be full­er than any despair, and when life would be more lasting than death. Jesus was like that – when people met him, they remem­bered him and remembered how he touched the fears and anxi­eties of their lives with a deep hope.

We are “third day” people, knowing that the love and life of God, promised at our baptism, will always be in the air around us, filling us with the breath of God, and breathing fragrance all around us like the best of flowers. Later they would be raised from final despair and hopelessness at his resurrection. But it took time!

Breathing in and out receive the peace of God.
On the in-breath, let the word ‘peace’ echo within you.
Lord, may I never lose faith in you.

Fr Donal Neary, S.J

Nothing but Jesus

We all need some statements like Peter’s that give a rock and a meaning to life. It gives us a clue of where we belong at deeper levels. We all need statements that express our faith in God. For Peter it was his faith in Jesus, the son of God. This would keep him going all of his life, even at times of unfaithfulness and dan­ger. He could never forget that he had said, ‘you are the Christ, the son of the living God’.

We might wonder who or what is a living God for us? Where we might put our basic trust? What is it that, if taken away, we would be lost without? We can give our lives to family, country, a political party, money. Some of these are worth our trust and some not so much.

We need the rock that Peter found in Jesus and Jesus in Peter. He was called rock only because of his relationship with Jesus Christ, the one who calls forth our faith and love and gives our lives a huge meaning.

It’s not that we have nothing but Jesus – it’s that we can inte­grate all that is important in life within our trust in him. It is God who reveals Jesus to us.

We want to give this to our younger people ~ a rock they can stand on in life, which nothing can demolish. This is Jesus, and in him all is created.

Recall strong convictions in your life.
Ask that they may he strengthened.
Lord, be my rock, my strong hold, my safety.

Fr Donal Neary, S.J

Fighting for her child

She was a woman like many. She would fight for her child, so she took on Jesus, the best known religious figure around. Like someone taking on the minister for health or children over a medical card for a chronically ill child, and not letting them off the hook. Jesus was testing her. He saw faith, but he wanted ev­eryone else to see it. So he told her she didn’t fit into the local re­ligious sphere because she was a foreigner, like an asylum seeker or a refugee. She knew she fitted into the heart of Jesus simply because she was the mother of a sick child and believed he could help.

Even if he would cure everyone, maybe he would come back to her at the end. Jesus went further – he cured her child and praised her faith.

She is another of the unnamed people of the gospel. Like the woman of Samaria, the rich young man, the thief on Calvary – she is herself, and she is all of us. She is everyone, man and woman, of faith.

Faith in a surprising God who, in Jesus, his Son, never says no to goodness. Faith that keeps us energetic and alive, not tired, in soul as well as body.

Remember your feeling of gratitude for the children of your family.
Lord, I believe. Strengthen my faith. 

Fr Donal Neary, S.J

A Hand to be Held

A most strange gospel story – Jesus walks on the water. It’s the type of gospel that suits a decision time, challenging us into deep trust – an invitation to come to the water; not to be afraid. It’s about trusting in Jesus, when there is nothing else. If you have human help, it’s great – but not the same as trusting in God.

In time of death, the call is to trust in God’s promise, because he is the way and the truth. Old age can be the same, or times in life when we just don’t know what the future will hold. It sounds unusual, but what Jesus does in this situation is very human. He doesn’t lecture or say a prayer, he just holds hands.

Someone was given a book on bereavement after a family death – he said he needed a hand to be held, or his tears to be heard. That’s Je­sus. He held Peter. Our God is a God with skin, with a human heart, who leaves big ideas behind when we are in trouble. Jesus just went across the lake, stopping his comfortable prayer.

There are times when we just need to hold on to God in trust. On another occasion Peter would jump into the lake again – after the resurrection. Always a water man! Then he would be asked not just to hold a hand, but to be the hand that would reach out to others. Peter was prepared for his mission in many ways. As Pope Francis says, ‘When the Lord wants to give us a mission, wants to give us a task, He prepares us. He prepares us to do it well’ (June 2014).

Remember a time when all you seemed to have was God; thank him.
Or recall when all you needed was God; ask him now for help.
Lord, in you I put my trust.

Fr Donal Neary, S.J