Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The word of the Lord in the first reading says God will open my ear. I am asking Him to open our ear to understand this word because it is strong, very strong. If the Lord doesn’t open our ears, we do not understand anything. And I hope today, many will have their ears opened. There are some who prefer to have their ears closed. What can I say?
What does it mean to have your ear open? It is to open yourself to the will of God to open yourself to his way of thinking, since God does not think like you. You and I need to open ourselves to God’s way of thinking. You may need to break with your projections, your schemas and let yourself be open to what He wants to do in your life. You want to be good and to be a Christian but be at peace because the Lord will do it. He knows we can’t unless you have the spirit of Christ. If your ear is open, you would say, Lord, speak to me, tell me your will, what do you want from me?
The reading from Isaiah helps us to understand what it means to have an open ear. He says do not rebel, do not turn back from what God tells you. Do not resist the preaching nor the Word that is proclaimed to you. Don’t resist what God wants to do with you.
There’s a story in the bible when Abraham was going to sacrifice Isaac to the Father and Isaac says, bind me, bind me fast, in case I resist. If the victim struggles or resists, then the sacrifice is not valid. The victim had to be humble has to enter death without resisting as Christ entered his death like a little lamb without kicking or screaming; he allowed himself to be killed. Brothers and sisters Christ has been killed for us. He dies for you.
Isaac says to his father, Abraham, “I will not resist, Father.” This is a story used by the Jews to pass on to the faith to their children to teach then what it means to open our ear, to not resist. I hope you will be able to let the Lord help you today with this word. The first reading says two things to us. It says the Lord will help me and that is why he did not hide his face in front of those who spit at him. How impressive is this? They were spitting at him, and he did not hide his face. To be with Christ is to open the ear, it means to enter the suffering that is before us.
The Lord helps me to enter this word today. It is a word of faith that you want to have faith, a true deep faith. To some of the saints like sister Faustina, he appeared to her many times, but I don’t think that’s what he wants to do with us. There is a point in your life when you needed help and you see that God acted and that he saved you. He interceded for you to help you. It’s not because we were very good, but because you had a situation where you needed to be saved.
The psalm repeats the same idea. It says, God will help you and he will save you. It is the Father that will save your life. And he will do it without your effort. This is faith, brothers and sisters, to have this experience that God helps you, that he saves you. Can someone have faith who has not experienced that he has been saved by the Lord? I don’t think so. Faith is not something magical. Faith is a personal encounter with Jesus Christ, how does he do this? Does he appear at the foot of your bed? And says I am the Lord of mercy, and then there’s flashing lights, no!
Faith is to experience this saving help from God. But faith is not saying that I am so good. Look at all my good works. Look how much I do, no, no. Faith, it’s quiet, it’s humble. This is faith. Here you see it on the cross. The first summer I was I priest I thought I made a mistake and would never survive, but little by little I entered a community of lay people, where I was one of them and it helped me to see that without God, I would never last as a priest.
God wants to save us from things like our profound selfishness. We think only of ourselves most of the time. The Lord to remove this heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. You need to be saved today so you can love your wife, so you don’t get anxious because there is not enough money or because of the disease that your son has. You need to be saved from the idolatry of money, of beauty; the idolatry that sucks the life away from you and kills you.
Then in the gospel, the Lord asks, the apostles. Who do you say that I am? Is he just an important figure? A prophet, who does good but has no concern from me. Who am I for you? That is what he’s asking. Have you met him? Can you tell me about that encounter you had? Peter says you’re the Messiah of my life. You are the only one that can save me.
Look at Peter’s act of faith. Jesus speaks to him clearly, saying the son of man has to suffer a lot, to die, to be killed on the cross. But Peter rebukes him. Rebuke is a strong word! Jesus rebuked the demons. But he takes Peter aside and rebukes him which is to say: you have a demon, get behind me, Satan. To get behind me means to follow me to stand behind me. Jesus is the head, he’s the one who leads us because we think as men, not as god thinks. To think like God is to have faith to be able to enter the events of death. But you’re able to accept it knowing that God will save you, that he will help you. But he will raise you up that you will not die in your marriage, you will not die in the terminal illness, you will die from the fear that you have.
God knows everything about you. He has seen all of your life. And look at this cross, this is how God thinks about you. This is how God thinks about all of us. He’s willing to give up his son for love of you. What do men think when they run away from the cross? They think to save their life, they will gain it, but Jesus Christ says the opposite. The door to true happiness it to lose your life, to enter the suffering. Christ will take you out of death; he rescues you.
St. Paul said to him to live is Christ and to die is gain. He was not speaking of physical death, he’s speaking of being able to die to yourself, in your marriage, in your relationships with others. To be able to die to your projections that you have of your life. When you seriously ask for forgiveness is to die to yourself.
Let us go to this banquet where Christ dies one more time for you; he knows you can’t die to yourself. He will rise in this eucharist because you can’t be resurrected by your own efforts. You need him. This is what it means to enter the land of the living, to be salt and light and leaven for others; to be a sign for others by loving them and being one with them. Don’t be afraid to die to yourself and you will be the happiest person on earth.