Homily for Thursday Eighteenth week in Ordinary Time Year A, 5th August, 2021, Memorial of The Dedication of The Basilica of St. Mary Major

 Homily for Thursday Eighteenth week in Ordinary Time Year A, 5th August, 2021, Memorial of The Dedication of The Basilica of St. Mary Major

Readings: Num. 20:1-13, Ps. 95, Matt. 16:13-23

Fr. Emmanuel Onyia

PERSONALLY, WHO IS JESUS TO ME?

As social beings, we often make friends who we can confide and entrust with our inner most thoughts and plans. But the friendship does not come automatically. There is always a moment when one will want to know if his or her friends can really be trusted, if they truly know and understand who we are and what we represent?

This is the situation between Jesus and his disciples in our Gospel passage today, when Jesus asked them saying: Who do people say the Son of Man is? And they said, ‘Some say he is John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ ‘But you,’ he said ‘who do you say I am?’ Then Simon Peter spoke up, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ Jesus replied, ‘Simon son of Jonah, you are a happy man! Because it was not flesh and blood that revealed this to you but my Father in heaven. So I now say to you: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church. And the gates of the underworld can never hold out against it. 

Here, we see how Peter expressed his personal conviction about who Jesus is. He did not have to quote any authority, because his response was a clear and sincere knowledge of who he professed Jesus to be. Hence, Jesus stressed that Peter's faith is a gift from the Father when he said: “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. 

This is because Peter’s gift of faith comes from his personal response to Jesus. Thus, our faith requires that we give a personal answer to the question: who is Jesus to me personally? For it is not enough to quote the teachings and Catechism of the Church about our faith or the teachings of other theologians and preachers or to respond only from the head but from the heart that is convinced of what it believes on. 

Today most people are following Jesus without knowing who Jesus truly represents. Some people find it very difficult to embrace the teaching of Jesus because they lack the faith and conviction about his personality, even when Jesus has revealed himself to us through his great miracles and teachings. The fact is that, Jesus wants us to develop a divine way of looking at things, he wants us to know him deep down our soul, so that we can profess our faith with deeper meaning and conviction.

This is why he told Simon, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." So, the faith given to Peter by God is the rock on which Jesus built his Church. And this royal authority is what Jesus entrusted to His Church through St. Peter and his successors of which our current Pope, Pope Francis is the 265th successor of St. Peter.

Today as we celebrate the memorial of the dedication of Papal Basilica of St. Mary Major, one of the most important of Churches and basilicas dedicated to the Blessed Mother of God, which was told in the Church history and tradition that a Roman patrician named John and his wife made a vow to donate their personal land and wealth as they had no son and heir to continue their family and inherit their legacy. They made the vow to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, and they prayed asking for guidance and help in finding the proper site to build a church dedicated to God and to His blessed Mother.

And in the most wonderful and miraculous way, on the fifth day of August, on one of the hills of Rome, the Esquiline Hill on which the Basilica now stands, during the very height of the hot Roman summer, snow falls on the hill and covered the very spot that Mary had marked for this great shrine and Church. And that was how this great Basilica was built and dedicated to Blessed Virgin Mary as Our Lady of Snows, and since then, the Basilica had stood for many centuries as the symbol of the faith that all of humanity has in the Lord through his Mother Mary, and it has become a strong rallying point for devotees and all the faithful, inspiring many to return to faith in God once again.

Dear friends, having heard the teachings and works of Jesus in the scriptures and traditions of the Church, the question remains: who is Jesus to you? What is your personal experience of Jesus? How has your knowledge of Jesus help other people to come to faith in Jesus. Today we are called to really examine our conscience to know where we are with regards to our faith as Christians. 

We are called today to develop a divine way of understanding the mysteries of God, but not rejecting them because we do not understand them. We are also called to be convinced of who we are and the need to truly unite together in God and His Church entrusted to St. Peter of which the get of underworld shall not prevail against it. Therefore, let us turn towards God once again with all our hearts and devote our whole lives in seeking to know Him more and more.

LET US PRAY: Heavenly Father, you revealed to St. Peter the true identity of Jesus your son, help us to profess our faith with deeper meaning and conviction. And as we experience the power of your presence, may we embrace more deeply your sacred mysteries. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Remain blessed.