Monday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Monday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Mt 17:22-27

Today’s Gospel passage from Matthew gives us a profound message about discipleship, trust in God’s providence, and the importance of fixing our eye on both the passion and the resurrection of Christ.

Jesus tells his disciples that "The Son of Man is to be handed over to men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day." And they were overwhelmed with grief.” However, Christ’s disciples were focusing on the first part of what Jesus said: “The Son of Man is to be handed over to men, and they will kill him,” not the second part that “he will be raised on the third day." That is the reason why his disciples “were overwhelmed with grief.”

If we reflect carefully on our Christian life as Christ’s disciples, a lot of time, instead of fixing our eyes on the resurrection and the everlasting we may have, we focus on the first part, which is suffering and death. That is why we feel bad or discouraged. That is natural to our human nature, but our faith in Christ tells us that we need to fix our eyes on Christ's passion and resurrection. We cannot separate passion from the resurrection of our Lord because, without one of them, Christ's paschal mystery would not have been completed.

We are called to accept both the passion and resurrection, but above all, as we are the people of the resurrection, we are called to fix our eyes on what is above. St. Paul reminds us, “As we look not to what is seen but to what is unseen; for what is seen is transitory, but what is unseen is eternal.” The joy of our life in Christ comes from what is unseen and beyond, and that is the resurrection.

We are also called to trust in God in times of difficulties and suffering because God will never let us take crosses in vain. The cross is the path of the resurrection in Christ who went through it.

Today’s Gospel also challenges us to reflect on our own lives as disciples of Christ. Are we fixing our eyes on the suffering or on the resurrection? Are we willing to trust God completely, even in difficult times?

Last, let us remember Jesus’ words: “The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised.” Let us take heart in the victory of the Resurrection. Let us remember that we are people of both the passion and the resurrection.

May God bless us all