Who I am God?

Gospel LK 9:18-24

Once when Jesus was praying by himself,
and the disciples were with him,

he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”

They said in reply, “John the Baptist;

others, Elijah;

still others, ‘One of the ancient prophets has arisen.’”

Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”

Peter said in reply, “The Christ of God.”

He scolded them

and directed them not to tell this to anyone.

He said, “The Son of Man must suffer greatly

and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,

and be killed and on the third day be raised.”

Then he said to all,

“If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself

and take up his cross daily and follow me.

For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,

but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.”
Its a very challenging gospel today :It reminds us that Jesus mission was not only to preach, teach and heal but his main mission was to suffer, die and rise from the dead for us

And We are part of the church, of Christ Mystical body.

We are called to share in his mission too.

Part of this mission is not only to teach others, to evangelize, to help others but also to suffer.

And we need to accept it.

Some whow we got into vision of Christianity that God will be saving us from suffering

Not quite so… We had wrong expectations..

Im Christian so I can share gospel and Gods love, compassion and mercy with others,

but Im Christian so I can also with Gods help carry my daily crosses and accept suffering that happens in my life

Im Christian so I can not only live with Christ but also suffer with him

This is not only time Jesus reminds his disciples about his mission and suffering he is expect to

happen. They didnt get it.

And reason why we and they struggle so much with who we are as Christians, who we are as Christ disciples is because most often we don’t to fallow what he was doing,

Lets go to the first lines of the Gospel:

..Once when Jesus was praying in solitude, and the disciples where with him, he asked them…

First, Jesus is praying but disciples not..

Theses guys struggle with prayer a lot. Gospels never mentioned a word that disciples were

praying… They asked him how to pray, they watched him praying, but they didn’t pray..
It is Jesus who is praying in solitude and out of this prayer he asks disciples:

Who do you say I am?

It is prayer that lead us to clearer understanding of who we are,

It is pray that reveals to us who we are as disciples, what is our mission,

It is prayer that prepares us and gives us strength to carry our crosses,

to accept suffering, to suffer with Christ,

to be the light for the world,

To live our lives the way God invites us to do

It is easy to answer with Peter: You are the Christ of God!

But We need to ask this question to ourselves too:

Who do you say that I am God?

We need to hear it too: you are my beloved child,  you are my disciple.
There is painting of the Holy Family given to Knights of Columbus and blessed by Pope Francis.

Its at the baptismal fount, where we were baptized and where we became members of Gods Family

This painting invites us to pray more for our families

Especially as we celebrate Fathers Day.

We pray for our fathers. That fathers will be the first one in family who will pray in solitude.

That Fathers will ask that question to: God who do you say that I am

That Fathers will continue bringing family together for prayer

So as a family you may continue to learn who do you are

 And that  in prayer you fill find strength to accept your daily crosses, to suffer with Christ, to bring light and hope to the world.

Who do you say that I am God?

I pray that you will have courage to take this question for prayer and that you will find patience to let God answer you.