XIIth Sunday in Ordinary Time: Zech 12:10-11; Gal 3:26-29; Luke 9:18-24

Among the fables of Aesop is one entitled The Hunter and the Woodman. A Hunter was searching for the tracks of a Lion. He asked a man felling oaks in the forest if he had seen any marks of the lion’s footsteps or knew where his lair was. “Oh yes,” said the Woodman, “I will take you to the Lion himself.” The Hunter turned pale from fear and stuttered, “No, thanks. I did not ask that; it is only his track that I am looking for, not the Lion himself.” In our dealings with God and with one another we are often like this hunter. We profess that we stand for something but when the full implication of what we profess stare us in the face we draw back.

This is what we see in today’s gospel story. Peter, speaking for himself and for the disciples, rightly confesses his faith in Jesus as the long-expected Messiah. When Jesus reveals to him and the disciples the implications of his being the Messiah they begin to draw back. By confessing Jesus as the Messiah the disciples show that they have gone above the level of the “people” who take Jesus to be nothing more than a prophet. Jesus then proceeds to tell them the implications of what they had just said: “The Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” (Luke 9:22).

Now, the disciples are not ready for this. They are looking for the footprints of the lion and Jesus offers to take them face to face with the lion. They begin to withdraw. This withdrawing is more dramatic in the gospel of Matthew where Peter takes Jesus aside and tries to talk him out of the suffering and death he was destined to undergo. But Jesus would shun him and dub him Satan for seeing things from the purely human rather than from God’s point of view.

For the truth of Jesus' identity as Christ can only really be understood in the light of the cross.

The joy of following Christ necessarily involves the pain of self-denial and self-sacrifice; this is the paradox of the gospel. But crosses, when borne together with Christ, always lead to resurrections.

Christ teaches this lesson in the context of his own passion and death, which he has just predicted to his band of followers. He affirms,

explicitly and uncompromisingly, that all his followers must “take up the cross. Jesus goes so far as to say that those who refuse to accept the sacrifices and sufferings that God sends or allows will “lose their lives.”

Suffering, when we bear it with faith and unite it to Christ's suffering, is like the oven that cooks saints, the fire that purifies our hearts of selfishness.

We all really want to be followers of Jesus, but many refuse to pay the price of discipleship. There is no consolation at all in being a half-hearted disciple. There is no freedom in that. Even though we all desire a pain- and trouble-free existence, we will never grow by running away from God's purifying action.

Our suffering is an opportunity to come to better know who Jesus is. This means that every human life is sacred and every moment of human life is an opportunity to recognize Christ's presence among us.

From June 21^st to July 4^th the Catholic Church in US is observing Fortnight for Freedom. There are mainly two reasons for this. On August 1^st the government mandate will take effect which would compel religious organizations to include coverage for abortion inducing drugs, sterilization and contraception in their employee health care plans. And if the potential Supreme Court rulings legally redefine marriage, that could also cause serious religious freedom issues for adoption agencies run by the Church and other religious groups.

If Jesus said he came to give life in fullness, then he defends life from conception to natural death. As followers of Jesus it is our duty to defend and safeguard the weak ones in our society who can not stand up for their own rights to life.

In union with the whole Catholic Church in United States let’s pray earnestly that the culture of death may not prevail over the weak frail human existence.