"LORD, TO WHOM SHALL WE GO?"
Real faith is neither
blind nor ignorant. It seeks understanding!
There is a big spot light on St. Peter in
today's first reading from the Acts of the Apostles. Those who spread the
Gospel were successful insofar as they could argue effectively that Jesus
Christ saved the world through His death and Resurrection. They were given the
power to perform both physical and spiritual miracles. We read today that Peter
cures both the paralyzed Aeneas and brings Tabitha back to life.
The Responsorial Psalm focuses on the
importance of healing, "How shall I make a return to the Lord for all the
good He has done for me" (Ps. 116:12)? And in the Gospel of John, things
are not going smoothly for Jesus and the disciples. Talking about eating His
flesh and drinking His blood has made some of them turn away from our Lord.
When Jesus asks those remaining if they will stay or go it is Peter, the Rock,
who immediately responds with his confident reply, "We have come to
believe and are convinced that You are the Holy One of God" (Jn. 6:69).
Author Carlo Caretto wrote this reflection in
his book titled "The God Who Comes":
How baffling you are, oh Church, and yet how I love you!
How you have made me suffer, and yet how much I owe you!
I should like to see you destroyed, and yet I need your presence.
You have given me so much scandal and yet you have made me understand sanctity.
How you have made me suffer, and yet how much I owe you!
I should like to see you destroyed, and yet I need your presence.
You have given me so much scandal and yet you have made me understand sanctity.
I
have seen nothing in the world more devoted to obscurity, more compromised,
more false, and I have touched nothing more pure, more generous, more
beautiful. How often I have wanted to shut the doors of my soul in your face,
and how often I have prayed to die in the safety of your arms.
No,
I cannot free myself from you, because I am you, although not completely.
And
where should I go?
Real faith is neither blind nor ignorant. It
seeks understanding! Our heavenly Father gives us the help of the Holy Spirit
to enlighten the eyes of our mind to understand truth and wisdom.