by Fr Joachim Robert
Isaiah 22: 19-23
Psalm 137: 1-3, 6,8
Romans 11: 33-36
Matthew 16: 13-20
Theme: God’s Love is Eternal
Dear friends,
Today we celebrate all these young people receiving Jesus for the first time. And I am sure they are excited. Are you all excited? As much as they are excited, I am sure the parents are also equally excited as well. Yes? Or maybe nervous?
So dear friends, as we see so much of excitement, so much of joy coming through these children in receiving Jesus for the first time, and because they are receiving Jesus for the first time, their hearts are beaming with joy. And as they beam with joy, the parents as well participate in the joy to see their child receive Jesus for the first time. And as they look at the child receiving Jesus, you and I are called to participate in this whole joyous celebration because we are all part of one community of faith. Because what we celebrate is the celebration of Jesus, that Jesus comes into every one of our lives, nourishing us and leading us in the path forward.
As I was sitting down with this text of the Gospel today, many of my memories went back to the time when I was in the seminary. As I entered into the seminary, Fr FA was one of the first people who did the recollection of the retreat for us, and this question was asked again and again and again:
Who do you say I am?
Because amidst all the questions that you have in life, dear friends, we must ask and we must answer this fundamental question of who Jesus is for us. Because when we are able to answer who Jesus is for us, then that whole orientation of our life changes.
And I am sure as we grow in faith and as we grow in maturity, there are many knowledge about who God is in our lives, of who Jesus is in our lives. But are we able to move from that knowledge of faith to a deeper understanding of who God truly is to us?
The Gospel says: When Jesus asked this question when he went to this region of Caesarea Phillipi: “Who do people say the son of man is?” And they said, “Some John the Baptist, some Elijah, and some Jeremiah or other prophets.”
But these knowledge of who God is does not change us, dear friends. If we are able to answer that question: “Who Jesus is in our lives?“, then that foundation of that experience give us a new compass to orientate our life in the direction that God wants of us. Because, as you see, all of them were saying who Jesus was but when He asked Simon Peter, Simon Peter was able to respond. He said: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” “It was not flesh and blood that revealed this to you but my Father in heaven.“
And when we are able to listen to our experiences of life and answer that question who God is in our live, as I mentioned, the Spirit of God works within us to give us that foundational experience and to guide us in orientation of our lives. And this question dear friends, until today, I have to answer. Until today going through the whole seminary formation, being a priest, until today I still have to answer that question.
And in the same way for each and every one of us here today. Each and every one of us must answer this question of who God is in our lives so that we are able to open our hearts to embrace the love and the mercy of God. And very often, dear friends, when we are able to answer that question with sincerity of heart, we come to a deeper realisation of who God is and who we are, acknowledging that we are sinners before God, we are broken people before God and when we are able to respond to that invitation that God gives us with the generosity of His heart, then we become people who will be able to be liberated with the blessings that God gives us.
And for you, dear children, God has a special place in your heart. And God has put that goodness of Himself in your heart. And in doing so, you must allow that goodness of God to shine and glow. And as they were coming for their first confessions yesterday, many of them were a bit nervous, many of them a bit shy, not knowing what to say. But when they were able to embrace God’s forgiveness, we can see their face lit up with joy. Yes? No?
Right, so as you see whenever we are able to allow God to invade the space of our lives which we have remained hidden, then the Lord liberate us and allow that goodness of God to shine.
And today as you take this first step forward, dear children, come with that openness of heart that when you receive the Eucharist, God will continue to nourish you, God will continue to help you become the best person that God wants of you. And you too must answer the question:
“Who do you say God is in your life? Who is Jesus for you?“
The same question that is posed to them and to the disciples, dear friends, are posed to each and every one of us. Because as we come and take that step forward to come and receive the Eucharist today, we are called to answer that question. And when we are able to acknowledge that experience that God has given to us, not listening to anybody else but to listen to our own experiences of life, we know that experience comes from God. And He says to Peter:
It was not flesh and blood that reveals this to you but my Father in heaven.
And when we are able to acknowledge and see those experiences of life though the eyes of Jesus, then we base our decisions, we base our life on what God has revealed Himself to us. As you take the step, dear friends, we need to ask again as I mentioned, we need to ask this question again and again. And each time we ask, we are renewing our commitment to God to say that we want to be His disciples, that we want to follow Him. And as He leads us to a deeper awareness of the mission that He has called each and every one of us, our invitation is to respond in love.
And when we respond in love, He gives us the keys of the kingdom to see things in greater insight, to see things in greater clarity because now we are able to see with God’s eyes. We are able to see the goodness of one another, we are able to see the goodness of ourselves, we are able to see the goodness of our community because God reveals Himself in and through them.
Last week we had the Pastoral Assembly. And a good number of you were there. And in that question that we asked, as a parish we asked the same question again: Who do you say I am?
And after listening to the whole community, there were three words that came up:
1. As a community, we must work together for Unity.
2. As a community, we must Care for one another.
3. As a community, we must be Inclusive and all-embracing.
And as we listened to these words, dear friends, it is I-C-U. You are not going into the Critical Unit to get ourselves be restored into health but it is an invitation to allow us to see the way God sees us. Because God tells us: I See You.
And allow the love of God, dear friends, to touch the love in our hearts. To let God draw the goodness of our community so that we can rejoice in the blessing that He has shared together with us, the gift of His Son, Jesus. That gift of the son Jesus is what all the children will receive for the first time and for all of us. As we continue the celebration today, dear friends, allow God to see the goodness of our hearts because He sees us and He only sees the goodness in us, not the flaws that we have. But even though we have flaws, God embraces us all the more. Because when sin abounds, grace abounds all the more.
And that is why in the Second reading from teh letre of St Paul to the Romans, he tells us:
How rich are the depths of God. How deep His wisdom and knowledge and how impossible to penetrate his motive or to understand His method.
We cannot understand the mind of God, dear friends. All that we can do is to be drawn to His truth, that God is truly present in the Eucharist and He wants to make His home in our lives.
And let us pray for this grace, that we may have the openness of heart to receive Him worthily and to answer that question “Who do you say I am?” with sincerity and humility of heart.
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