Sunday Gospel: Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Matthew 16:21-27

This week’s gospel is the first of three predictions of Jesus’ death and resurrection in Matthew’s Gospel (see also Mark and Luke). Despite Peter’s confession of faith that immediately precedes this passage (see last week’s gospel), the Disciples still do not have a very solid understanding of Jesus’ purpose. They may regard Him as the Messiah, but still do not fully understand what that means. In this passage, Jesus is beginning to prepare them for the events of the Passion – His death and resurrection. He is trying to lead them to a greater understanding of His mission and message. But Peter abruptly ‘rebukes’ Jesus and tells Him not to speak like that. One can almost hear Peter saying, ‘Look, Jesus, you’ve got a good thing going here, don’t spoil it by talking about dying!’ However, Jesus responds to Peter very sharply, suggesting that his lack of understanding is inspired by evil and reflects human thought, not divine wisdom.

The passage then leads in to a description of the challenge of discipleship. To be a follower of Jesus means to ‘deny’ oneself, take up one’s cross and follow Jesus. In the context of this passage, to ‘deny’ oneself means to not be concerned about ‘I’ but to be concerned about ‘You’ – to put others before self. To be a follower of Jesus means to be selfless, not self-centred. In the ultimate example of this, Jesus tells His disciples that whoever wishes to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for Jesus’ sake will find it. To ‘save’ your life is to hold back from giving yourself fully to the message of Jesus – to be ‘half-hearted’ in your faith. But to ‘lose’ yourself in the message of Jesus is to fully give yourself over to living the reign of God and through ‘losing’ yourself in this way, Jesus tells us, is how to truly find life.  (Gospel Reflection by Greg Sunter)

Sacrament of Confirmation

Many of our Year 6 students and their families have begun the journey towards Confirmation. We all join in praying for them as they prepare for the Sacrament to be held at the end of this term. All parents of candidates should have been emailed a link to a Google Doc (included again below) that will allow them to book a spot for their families at one of the Confirmation Masses.

Please contact me if you are having any issues with this link.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1rB1sASzwzASD6d6-xwo_I_M-oYDPXe2VnuLuKg7WVUY/edit#gid=0

Next week, I will be working with our Year Six Confirmation Candidates to complete preparation for their Sacrament, and create the Stoles that they will wear during the Sacrament. I’m looking forward to spending the time with the students during this time.

God bless,

Stephanie Burns

Religious Education Coordinator