Homily For Thursday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time Year A, 16 February, 2023

Readings: Gen.9: 1-13; Ps. 102; Mark: 8:27-33

Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

 

WHAT IS YOUR PERSONAL EXPERIENCE OF JESUS?

 

Following the ugly events of division, manipulation and multiplication of Churches going on in Christianity today, one can not but repeat this fundamental question of Jesus to Christians all over the world: who do you say I am? Jesus addresses this question to all his disciples. The people are free to believe whatever they want about Jesus, for Jesus has been carefully preparing his disciples to carry on his  work so they ought to know better. They have heard His teachings and witnessed his miracles. What they think of Him should be more critical.

 

Thus, St. Peter spoke up and said to him, ‘You are the Christ.’ And he gave them strict orders not to tell anyone about him. And he began to teach them that the Son of Man was destined to suffer grievously, to be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and to be put to death, and after three days to rise again.

 

Here, we see how Peter expressed his personal conviction about the personality of Jesus. He did not have to quote any authority, because his response was a clear and sincere knowledge of who he professed Jesus to be. For Peter’s gift of faith comes from his personal response about who Jesus is, even though he does not want to associate with the suffering aspect of the life of Jesus, and that was why Jesus rebuked that spirit of fear in him.

 

Thus, our faith requires that we give a personal answer to the question: who do you say I am? 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 he believes on and is really ready to embrace the will of God.

 

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 truly profess our faith with deeper meaning and conviction. Little wonder God said to Noah in our first reading today: See, I establish my Covenant with you, and with your descendants after you. I set my bow in the clouds and it shall be a sign of the Covenant between me and the earth and every living creature for all generations.

 

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? When was you spiritual turning point? Do we have a personal conviction about God that does not based on what people told us of him? How has your knowledge of Jesus help other people to come to faith in Jesus. In case you have not personally experience him, all you need to do is to sincerely seek God in those common events in your life and you will realize how much God is willing to reveal himself to you.

 

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. Do have a fruitful day.