The Holy Priest-Martyr Eleutherius; Our Venerable Father Paul of Latra (956); Our Holy Father Stephen the Confessor, Archbishop of Surozh (8th century)
Hebrews 10:1-18; Mark 8:30-34
Nativity Fast. Abstention from meat and foods that contain meat.
Read Mark 8:30-34
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
Hello, my friend! It is ten days until Christmas! Are you anticipating a wonderful celebration this year? I know, I know… where did that last month go? We started the Nativity fast in November and there is but a week and one half left.
So… how’s your prayer been? If you are like me, I have been trying to pray more. However, with the stresses of preparations and the pandemic restrictions and the new omnicron variant starting to make its way through the population, I have paid little attention to my prayer. Well, that’s not exactly true. I do in fact pray but its more of me telling the Lord what I need Him to do for me. I haven’t paid much attention to what He has been saying to me. And since I’m being honest, I have to tell you that today’s Gospel reading kind of opened my eyes.
Peter had just finished exclaiming that Jesus was the Christ. And then, when the Lord starts to tell all the disciples how the Messiah must suffer, be rejected, be killed, and then rise on the third day, Peter starts to rebuke Him. It seems that the Lord’s idea of Messiah differed from that of Peter’s idea.
I’m so much like Peter, I thought. How many times do I tell the Lord what I think He should be doing? Like Peter, I wasn’t listening to Him. I was busy with my concerns of the world rather then listening to His plan.
Our Lord told Peter that he was an adversary (that’s what satan means) and that he should get behind Him. It’s the same verb used in the next sentence – follow after. If I’m going to be a disciple of the Lord, then I need to stop being in front of Jesus and get behind Him – to actually follow. The saving grace is this – Peter got behind the Lord. If he can do it, and I’m like Peter, then I certainly can behind the Lord.
Lord, show me the way! Show me my Cross!