Did you ever think that Jesus would have called the first Pope, Satan? It seems extreme. In the context that Jesus used it, it doesn’t just mean Satan, but also ‘enemy’. But why was he calling St. Peter an enemy, when he was entrusting his Church to him? Jesus was teaching the disciples that they must learn to think in a different way.
The way of Christianity and the way of the world are radically different and always have been. If you want to be a Christian and follow the way of Jesus, it will cost you. What our society tells us to do is mostly the opposite of what the Lord teaches us to do. The Lord says, ‘Do not be afraid of suffering, because it is part of the path to heaven,’ while our world says, ‘You shouldn’t have to suffer.’ The Lord teaches us that this life is only the preparation for what is to come and it is a time of sacrifice. Our world tells us that this life is everything, so work hard to have all the comfort and happiness you can find, because then it is over.
Sometimes I hear someone who is elderly and sick saying, ‘At least I am still alive.’ But to me that says they are still seeing this life as everything. Why would you want to cling to this life when you are suffering and where there is so much injustice and sorrow, when a world of unimaginable beauty, joy and peace awaits us? If we really believe that is what awaits us, then it is something to look forward to. Every time someone I know dies, I envy them in one way, as they have now completed their time on earth and have made it to the place we are created for, presuming they have tried to live a good life.
The world tells us that we should be able to have everything we want. ‘If you want something, take it.’ ‘Have everything your way.’ ‘My world, my way.’ My body, my choice.’ That is the teaching of the world. Many people listen to the world which is why there is so much corruption and evil around us, because they are thinking only of themselves. Jesus says, ‘What use is it for a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?’ What happens to our soul is infinitely more important than what happens to our body, because only the soul will live on. Our bodies will die and decay.
Jesus also says, ‘Whoever loses his life will find it.’ What does that mean? It means that if we are focused on what God teaches us and not just on our own satisfaction, it will lead us to true life, eternal life, eternal fulfillment. Whoever (loses) lets go of being satisfied in an earthly way and recognizes that our true fulfillment is in God, will find their true life, the only life where they will be fulfilled.
Does that mean that we can’t enjoy earthly things, material things? Of course not. God has given us this beautiful world to enjoy. God wants us to be happy and to enjoy our life, but our true happiness will not be found in earthly things. Once we recognize that, we will actually be able to enjoy the things of this world even more, because we won’t be attached to them and we won’t be expecting them to fulfill us. It gives us an inner freedom.
It is ironic that many people leave the Catholic Church to follow more demanding forms of religion, because they feel that our faith is too easy. That’s why many young people follow eastern religions. They haven’t understood what our faith is about.
God teaches us that if we want to follow him, we must do what he asks us. We’re not going to have it all our own way. Peter was thinking in an earthly way when he said to Jesus, ‘Heaven preserve you Lord, this must not happen to you.’ Things had been going very nicely up to this point. Jesus was working miracles and becoming very popular and more and more people were following him. So, the Apostles held privileged positions as well. But now if Jesus was going to be tortured and put to death, that would ruin all that. ‘…this must not happen to you,’ we like it the way things are, we don’t want pain and suffering and to be unpopular. But Jesus points out that he is thinking in an earthly way, the way which does not lead to fulfillment.
In some ways we have become spoilt Christians. What do I mean? We do the things that we like and when it suits us. We are happy to shop on Sundays because it suits us, even though it is directly breaking one of God’s commandments to us. Many people don’t bother fasting for an hour before they receive Holy Communion, because it’s too much trouble. We use the name of Jesus as a swear word, even though this is breaking one of God’s commandments as well. And then people say that they haven’t sinned, even though this is why Jesus died, because we do sin.
If we were following our version of Christianity, then priests would be married, there would be women priests, we wouldn’t have to fast, we could teach divorce, abortion and contraception as the obvious solution to difficult problems, because these things suit us. But that’s not what our faith is about. Being a Catholic involves a certain way of life, sacrifices and doing things that don’t always suit us. Going to mass on Sundays when we would rather be asleep or having coffee. Confessing our sins to God regularly through confession, as God asks us to. Following his teaching as passed on by the Church.
I believe that one of the greatest things that our faith shows us is that our complete fulfillment awaits us in the world to come. To know that gives us an inner freedom. We can enjoy the things of this world, while not depending on them. It also reminds us that no matter how much we suffer while we are on earth, it is only temporary. And even though we lose the people we love through death, that is also temporary. Sooner or later we will catch up with them.
In the second reading St. Paul writes:
‘Do not model yourselves on the world around you, but let your behaviour change, modelled by your new mind. This is the only way to discover the will of God and know what is good, what it is that God wants, what is the perfect thing to do.’
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