Feb 25, 2024
For what would we give our lives? Peter fumbles this
spectacularly in today's gospel. Jesus was teaching openly that he
was going to suffer, it was a matter of fact, a condition of his —
and our — living, The response of the Spirit to suffering is
compassion, or presence and companionship with the one who suffers.
Instead, Peter does something that may be intimately familiar to
us: he tries to "fix" it. He wants to make it go away. He clings to
his own ideas of what ought to be, and rather than ease Jesus'
suffering, it actually increases Peter's own. The Way of the Cross
shows us a more loving way of living and giving our lives.
Lent 2B: Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16; Psalm 22:22-30; Romans 4:13-25; Mark 8:31-38