Twenty-first Sunday of the Year

One of the most important questions to us “Who do you say that I am?” The disciples tell Jesus what everyone else says. He was asking what they think. He also asks what we think. This is central for anyone who follows Jesus. The answer makes all the difference. We should note where Jesus asked this question. Caesarea Philippi, founded on a massive wall of rock, had a marble temple built in honour Caesar. Caesarea Philippi was a place of imperial power and authority and Jesus’ takes on a political nature. It flows an earlier political question: ‘Who do people say that I am?’ It comes down to asking who has taken the strongest stand against Israel’s oppressors. They mention Elijah, Jeremiah and John the Baptist. Then Jesus’ question takes on an anti-imperial tone, ‘What about me? Who do you say that I am?’

The Pacific Calling Partnership, an initiative of the Edmund Rice Centre for Justice and Community Education, has just released our 2022 Snapshot of Activities.  It can be accessed here and could be useful to anyone wanting to have a sense of what we do. 

Twentieth Sunday of the Year

Today’s gospel passage takes us into uncomfortable territory. Journeying from the land of Pharisees to the land of Canaanites, a woman - a Gentile, and an enemy -  forces Jesus to respond to the ‘bigness’ of God. Through a series of encounters with people, Pope Francis has in many ways reflected to us at the World Youth Day, and elsewhere of the wide embrace of God. No one is excluded which Pope Francis reminds us of when he says, ‘all are welcome.’ There are no exceptions. In Isaiah, God says, “‘I will bring foreigners to my holy mountain. I will make them joyful in my house of prayer, says the Lord, ‘for my house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples’”.