Posted by The WORD in other words (2017) by Father Chito Lorenzo SVD – Japan
21st Sunday in Ordinary Time – A
There are people we know only through what we read or hear about them. Most of us, for example, have never met our favorite singer or actor in person. What we know of them is what the media tells us — and that is rarely a full representation of who they truly are. Articles often highlight only one aspect of a famous person’s life.
When Jesus asks His disciples: “But who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15), He is inviting them to go beyond hearsay and grasp the very essence of His being. Hearing what others say about a person and actually experiencing life with that person are two very different things. We come to understand someone more deeply when we spend time with them.
Jesus also asks us: “What have you heard about me?” Perhaps we might answer: “The Bible says this… the priest mentioned that…” But then comes the decisive question: “And you — what do you say about me?”
We cannot answer truthfully unless we have experienced Christ in our own lives. Reading and hearing about Jesus Christ is not the same as knowing Him personally. “Taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8).
We have been given the gift of faith to believe in God’s love and in the saving power of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. Yet this faith is strengthened by experiencing that love and saving grace — especially in the sacrament of penance. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
The encounter with forgiveness and unconditional love gives us true knowledge of who God is in our lives.
Let us open our hearts each day to experience God’s love anew, so that our answer to Christ’s question may spring not only from what we have heard, but from what we have lived. Like Peter, we too can confess with conviction: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16).
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