Gospel Reflection for the 24th Sunday Ordinary Time (14 Sep)

You don’t want to hear it, let alone believe it. You don’t want your plans derailed or face a situation that forces you from your comfortable, safe existence. So you ignore it, sweep it under the carpet, or try to minimize the problem with assurances that it’s nothing. Everything will be fine.

That’s how humans think.

But if you “think like God,” your concern shifts immediately to how others are affected by this situation that you want nothing to do with.

Your teenage son or daughter has been eerily quiet for some time. They’re moodier than usual; they’ve disengaged from everything — and everyone. Typical teenage angst, you sigh. Snap out of it! Grow up! You want to shout.

That’s how humans think.

But if you “think like God,” you patiently sit down and ask if everything is all right — and then you listen with empathy, without judging or criticizing.

A dear friend has just gotten terrible news. You don’t know what to say or do; afraid you’ll say the wrong thing and make matters worth. Hey, I’m not a counsellor or doctor or priest, you plead in your own mind.

That’s how humans think.

But if you “think like God,” you get over your trepidation, you call your friend expressing your support and offering to bring over dinner or take their dog out for its walk or some simple task that might ease their burden if only a little.

Those things happen to other families — but not ours. Other people get sick — but not me. Lots of couples go through difficult times — but we’re solid. Yeah, these are hard economic times — but we’re smart with our money.

That’s how humans think.

But if you “think like God,” you realize that if we’ve learned anything these past few years it’s every family — even families like yours — can get into trouble through no fault of their own, that we all need to put aside the comfort of denial and the self-righteousness of judgment to help — in a spirit of gratitude and grace.

Most of us understand all too well where Peter is coming from in today’s Gospel: Keep things upbeat and positive; don’t dwell on the negative; stop whining; pick yourself up and move on. That’s how humans think, Jesus says. But to “think like God” is to realize that denying or diminishing such difficulties and stress can be devastating in the end, that resurrection is only possible through taking up our own crosses in Jesus’ spirit of charity and mercy. In our brokenness, we discover the things of God: humility that heals, empathy that mends, generosity that lifts up the fallen and broken. Christ challenges the “Peter” attitude in us all: not to deny the reality of the crosses in one another’s lives but to embrace those crosses with the certain hope that, in the spirit of Christ the Servant, they can be the means of Easter re-creation.