My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God. (Psalm 62)
Today’s Gospel is a very sad and serious one. Our reaction, like Peter’s, may be not to accept the prediction.
We do not want Jesus to have to undergo rejection and a tortured death. Jesus is under no illusion, however, that being the very personification of Truth would lead him into mortal conflict with the religious authorities of his time. Jesus, then speaking from His divinity, exhorts his followers down through the ages that they too must bear the cross daily in their lives, in whatever form of suffering it might take.
He himself stands as an inspiration, a model, a beloved friend to Christians for all time and in every age who have suffered for their faith.
This Gospel is a vivid reality for the martyrs we read about in the papers every day, reminding us that the age of martyrdom is not past, but is still very much with us.
For those of us not called to be martyrs, this Gospel calls upon us to be saints.
