Fr. Bob’s Weekly Reflections

It is said that the only person who can hurt us is someone we love and the deeper the love the worse the hurt. A total stranger can hurt us physically but only someone we love – a trusted friend can injure us emotionally.

We hear a dark message from Jesus today…He is not the sweet Jesus, meek and mild. He is brutally honest and straight forward.

Not many people are honest enough or brave enough to ask the question in today’s Gospel. Just think about you asking some friend or perhaps, more courageously, some enemy – Who do you say that I am….

We have a dramatic scene in today’s Gospel, Jesus and the disciples are walking along and a hysterical woman comes up to them crying with the intensity of a mother whose child needs help.

In our Gospel today Jesus says to Peter “come.” It is a simple invitation, one that Jesus gives us daily. It is the same one that he offered to the rich young man elsewhere in the Gospel. The young man turned away because he had many possessions.

And, Jesus says, “Give them some food yourselves.” The disciples protested, “Five loaves and two fish are all we have.” Jesus said, “Bring them to me.” As always with the gospels, there is a lesson for us.

Some time ago, a magazine ran a story about teenagers who belong to the Santa Clara Swimming Club. Every morning they get up at 5:00am and hurry to an outdoor pool for two solid hours of swimming, after which, they go to school.