“In Gethsemane the holiest of all petitioners prayed three times that a certain cup might pass from Him. It did not.”

“In all His acts God orders all things, whether good or evil, for the good of those who know Him and seek Him and who strive to bring their own freedom under obedience to His divine purpose. All that is done by the will of God in secret is done for His glory and for the good of those whom He has chosen to share in His glory.” – Fr. Thomas Merton: (1915 – 1968: American Trappist Monk and writer)

Gospel text: (Mt 16:13-19)

When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi
he asked his disciples,
“Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah,
still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Simon Peter said in reply,
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah.
For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.
And so I say to you, you are Peter,
and upon this rock I will build my Church,
and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.
I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven.
Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven;
and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

We are reminded again that our mind is not God’s mind. We cannot always explain the extremes that evil can progress before God defeats the plans of the devil. We can become very demoralized by the chaos and calamity of evil in our world. In our first reading from today’s Mass, God seemed to allow Herod early success in his effort to persecute the Church and take the life of Peter. While Peter’s execution was imminent and God could have intervened sooner, His plan tested the faith of His people and God’s power was revealed in an even greater way by the last minute reprieve. Peter’s own faith and those who looked to Peter were confirmed in spite of their patience and faith being challenged (Acts 12:1-11). 

If Peter were to be asked in the ensuing years if he would have wanted God to have had him released sooner, we could only imagine that he would be content to have seen the wisdom and power of our Creator.

In faith, we pray. When confronted with evil and death, we must strive to not pray against our foes, but for our friends and for the manifestation of God’s will in our world. As we run our own “races” let us take time to reflect and pray, as the early church prayed for Peter. With the Lord, we too can “fight the fight, run the race and keep the faith”.

With God, all things are indeed possible.