The invitation of this Gospel is to become people who can receive God's generosity without needing to measure it against what someone else receives

The God who calls us is the God who continually reconciles us to himself and to one another

The Gospel invites us to put ourselves behind Jesus, to let him lead, and to become free enough to follow

God's faithful presence does not rise and fall with our awareness of it

The God revealed to us this Sunday is the God of extravagant generosity

There is no place for fear in faith

We are not given light to stay on the mountain, but to carry into the valley

Faith becomes real through the small, daily choices we make to live wisely

No matter how dark the road may feel, we are not walking it without light

As disciples of Jesus, we work to sustain the good that is in the world and to transform whatever needs transformation

As Christians, we believe that the saving work of Jesus continues today, in unexpected ways in our own lives and in the lives of each of his followers.

He is truly one of us and he accepts our humanity with all of its limitations, its burdens, and, also, its hopes and its call to be something—to become something—more.

Like Saint Joseph, each of us being called to trust that what God has promised to us will be given to us.

This is the time we've been given and we are expected to do something with it!

These last days of the Church year call us to a certain sense of urgency because, as Paul reminded the Thessalonians, the Lord will return “as a thief in the night” (cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:1-6).

While the love of God always comes first, our response to that love should take us outside of ourselves, as we are asked to share with others the love and compassion that we ourselves have received from God.

This Sunday’s Gospel invites us to ask ourselves some hard questions about how effectively we are applying the values of our faith tradition to our social obligations, especially in promoting peace and justice for all people.

May we have the grace to open our minds and hearts, so that we can freely respond to what is being asked of us as we continue to live out our call to discipleship.

It isn’t enough to simply talk about reconciliation and healing, we must do the hard work of forgiving, which, for disciples of Jesus, is just one aspect of taking up one’s cross and imitating Jesus himself.

Peter’s faith is more than intellectual knowledge; it is his relationship with Jesus. When he confesses that Jesus is the Christ, Peter is speaking out of his own deep, loving, and personal knowledge of who Jesus is.