Sisters of St. Mary of Namur

June 20, 2010  Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time

We notice in today's Gospel that Jesus doesn't ask who he is, but rather asks about who others say he is.  This is a question for all ages and times.  It's a question for different stages of our lives, also.  Who is Jesus for us?  Who is Jesus for me?  Jesus is always the same.  Yet, he becomes different answers for us depending on where we're at in our lives.  Do I need a savior?  A companion who gives me unconditional love?  A presence that will never leave me?  A person I can always count on and trust?  Then that is who Jesus will be for me.  He will be just who I need at a particular moment in time.  That's part of the beauty of Jesus.

Once we let ourselves be captivated by Jesus, once we give our lives over to Jesus we are in the hands of the living God and we are forever held in love.  But in the Gospel there is also a message from Jesus that requires taking a deep breath and swallowing hard.  "If anyone wishes to come after me, he/she must deny himself/ herself and take up his/her cross daily and follow me."  The catch is that if we follow Jesus, who is THE One, we will encounter the cross in his shadow.  But the cross we must take up daily is OUR cross...not Jesus' cross.  We each have a cross to carry.  Yet, we have the promise throughout the gospels that we will never be alone, that Jesus will be with us until the end of time.  So, as we carry that cross, whatever it may be for each of us, Jesus is there with us.

Jesus challenges us to dig deep and discover for ourselves who he is.  His questions do not have ready-made answers.  They are challenges.  If we are up to the challenge we will follow Jesus, cross in hand, denying in ourselves whatever it is that would bring us to follow someone else and then discover that we have lost THE One.  May each day find us asking the question: Who is Jesus for me?  And may we be happy with just staying with the question, knowing that if we ask it each day, the answer will be there.

                         -Sr. Patricia Brady