By Jacob Perikala csc –
Readings: Num 20: 1-13; Mt 16: 13-23
In the first reading, Moses lost hope in God when people were against him, because they were in crisis without food and water.
In the gospel, Peter lost hope in the power of God who could do everything in the world. I, like the people of Israel and Peter, believe in the power of God during happy and joyful times. But during crisis, I fail to uphold my faith in God, grumble about the problems and avoid facing them. I fail to get comfort from the scriptures.
However, when crisis happens to others, I share comforting words from scriptures with them. I am called to give hope to people who are hopeless. Today God is inviting me to always have faith in God. If I fail to have faith and hope in God, I will not be able to give the same faith and hope to others.
Having faith in God may not avoid problems but will give us the strength to face them. In our lives, we often fall. But what matters to our Lord is that we are able to rise from the fall and follow him. In the present world, many of us fail to understand that pain, which is temporary, can not only destroy our lives but also make us determined to act. It all depends on us how we receive and act on it.