Question of the Week
Gospel Reading: Mark 8:27—35
Peter gives the correct answer to Jesus’ question, “Who do you say that I am?” But the rest of the picture he doesn’t get. Like most of us, he thinks that safety and success in this world are worthy goals, and that God will certainly protect those things for his Chosen One. It turns out he is SO FAR off the mark that Jesus calls him Satan for getting between him and the will of the Father. Jesus then explains to his friends what they need to shoot for: self-denial, self-forgetfulness, an utterly other-centered life, holding onto nothing in this world, but only to eternal values.
Question: These aims are difficult, even foreign; how can I teach myself to want them?