Hi everyone, and welcome to Weekly Homilies with Father Mark Suslenko, Pastor of SS. Isidore and Maria Parish in Glastonbury, Connecticut. We are part of the Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford. I'm Carol Vassar, parish director of communications, and this is Episode 30 of Season 6 for the Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary time: Sept. 3, 2023. Our Gospel reading is from Matthew, Chapter 16, verses 21-27.
Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised. Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him, "God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.” He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do."
Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? Or what can one give in exchange for his life? For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father's glory, and then he will repay all according to his conduct.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
“A Journey of Transformation” by Father Mark S. Suslenko, Pastor, SS. Isidore and Maria Parish, Glastonbury, Connecticut
One of the things that is totally unacceptable for a Christian is to simply ride the waves of life and schlep along, giving no real credence or thought to who we are, why we're here, and where we are going. Simply taking things as they come is not responding to the call of Jesus. We are, as Christians, asked to embark upon a journey of transformation, of changing the way we think, the way we act, the way we perceive the world, and understand ourselves. This journey of transformation is achieved through the renewal of our minds, through the renewal of our minds. And when our minds are renewed, God can do within us what God desires to do.
But how do we renew our minds? What refreshes us, picks us up, and sets us on a steadier path? Well, learning and knowledge certainly do that. The more we can understand and know things, the better off we certainly are. Enlightenment can do that through the accumulation of wisdom, and the fruit of fervent prayer can open our eyes, our minds, our hearts, and our souls and bring us enlightenment. But how do we really achieve knowledge, understanding, or even greater wisdom?
Well, seasoned thinkers will tell us that the best way to learn is by asking questions, and effective learning really is achieved by the asking and the answering of questions.
For example, we can take one of the flowers in our sanctuary decoration this week, and we can begin to ask questions about it. If we ask, for example, what is it? The response will then enlighten us. If we ask what color it is, that will give us more information as well. If we ask what kind of flower it is, we learn more, and if we ask where does it come from, we learn how things grow.
Simple terms, but it's the process that we embark upon. And the more we ask questions, the more we gain knowledge, and the deeper our questions continue to be as we embark upon this journey. And we begin to see over time that we really, really know less than we think we know the more we acquire knowledge and understanding. But the lens that we use in understanding things and asking questions is a secular one.
So we learned about the etymology of a flower, and we can look at it scientifically, but is that the extent of our ability to know, or is there more?
Well, if you look at that same flower with the eyes of faith, It changes up what we see dramatically because then when we ask the question, "Where does the flower come from?" the response of faith: it comes from God. And once we begin to factor faith into the questions that we ask, the pieces of life's puzzle begin to look much different. The perspective that is brought to our understanding is widened and put into a much deeper context.
As we consider our relationship with Jesus Christ, we look to those who were closest to him, and we see over and over again in the stories of the Gospel how Jesus gets frustrated with the lack of understanding. After teaching and after instructing, and after showing and demonstrating, those who are witnessing still don't understand. And that narrative plays out over and over again. Even those closest struggle with understanding with the eyes and ears of faith.
Peter, for example, is looking at several realities: suffering, death, loss of friendship. And he looks at Jesus, and he says, those things will never happen to you. You can't allow those things. No one's gonna hurt you. We won't allow it.
Because the way Peter is looking at those realities are with secular eyes, with the eyes of the world. And the eyes of the world want to tell us that what is here is important above and beyond anything else, that the goal of life is to preserve this at all costs. Whether it's avoiding suffering, avoiding hardship, avoiding sickness, avoiding death, whatever we can to make this journey of human life easier is the route to take. And Jesus looks at him and he says, you still don't get it, do you? You still don't get it!
Because Jesus is taking those same realities and looking at them differently. He's taking suffering, the cross, and death and making a different connection with faith; he's saying those very things will bring life, not squelch it. Because it's not about here, it's about the transformation to come over here in eternity. It's not here. It's there, not here, there. Whereas we, and like Peter and many others, we are so convinced that it's about here. We forget to look over there.
And so Jesus is saying it's only through suffering and death that life is gained. Because if you listen to the question that Jesus asks, and if you listen with just human secular ears, what do we hear? Listen. What profit is there for one who gains the whole world and loses his life? To the secular ear, that question makes no sense because secular thinking and secular knowledge reverse it. We live our lives, quite often, under the idea of gaining more power, gaining more success, gaining more wealth, gaining more security, gaining a position of strength is going to preserve my life here, not lose it, secular thinking so that if I don't do those things, I will lose my life.
Jesus says, "No." To the mind and the heart of a Christian of one who follows me, suffering and death are necessary components of achieving joy over here in that ultimate transformation that will occur in the souls of every believer. Not here. Over there.
And if you want to know where we are in terms of our relationship with God and where we are in terms of our thought process and how much we're either on the same page with Jesus or not, think about some of the questions you ask of God. What weighs in your mind and heart? What burdens and anxieties do you carry with you? What weighs on your soul and preys on your mind, and keeps you up at night? Think about those things. And if they're earthly-centered, focused on the anxieties and the uncertainties of this life, what does Jesus tell us? Don't let your hearts be troubled. Don't be anxious. Put fear aside; it's useless. Our call is to work here for as long as we can be here for the good of the kingdom of God. To live a life of peace and justice, of helping our neighbors, and of sacrificing ourselves for others. Not storing up goods for ourselves and then working for peace and justice and building up the kingdom of God. Our minds and our hearts are renewed, and we begin to enter on that journey of transformation when, one day, all things are one in Christ, all become Christ as scripture tells us. That we're on this road to wholeness and unity, tranquility, and abundant joy. Yes, life is going to be difficult and will involve suffering and hardship. The secular mind can't understand that, but the mind of faith says, endure for the kingdom of heaven is coming.
You know, one of the commandments most people have the hardest time keeping, and it's one you might not suspect, it's the third one: keep holy the Sabbath day. We struggle with this. Every one of us, even myself, of setting Sunday as a day of sacredness, of devotion to God, beginning with our nourishment of the word and sacrament of receiving the precious body and blood of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Of all of the things we have, it is only here that we can be brought back again because we all wrestle with the voices. We have our feet in both places. Jesus says, remain detached from these things so that you can be freed up for the kingdom of God. We need to be reminded of that all the time. It's only by setting aside willfully this sacred space of the Sabbath that we actively, consciously place ourselves in humble service of God and humbly ask for his guidance, his mercy, and his love so that we can be used.
The secular voice or the divine voice: how we think and how we process our knowledge will determine whether we're on the path of transformation. May we truly find ourselves renewed and transformed into the image and likeness of God himself.
Father Mark Suslenko is the pastor of SS. Isidore and Maria Parish in Glastonbury, Connecticut. Learn more about our parish community at www.isidoreandmaria.org. Follow us on social media: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Our music comes free of charge from Blue Dot Sessions in Fall River, Massachusetts. I’m Carol Vassar. Thanks for joining us.