In comparing and contrasting a recent pairing of the words of the prophet Jeremiah with the message of Jesus in the Gospel in anticipating his own coming suffering and the necessity of it, Monsignor Robert Smith of St. Patrick Catholic Church in Corpus Christi, Texas, presented parishioners with the inevitability of suffering, yet the suffering with purpose that is the lot of those who follow Jesus.

In his “From the Desk of…” message, Smith first talked about Jeremiah, and how he lamented his fate before God, saying that he was the target of mockery and derision for speaking the Word of God, yet he could not stop speaking God’s Word even if he tried.

“The Word of God burns in his heart and he cannot hold it in,” Smith wrote.

In the Gospel reading, Peter is first praised by Jesus when he alone among the disciples recognizes Jesus as the Messiah. Yet, immediately after Peter is rebuked when he attempts to discourage Jesus from talking about his inevitable suffering and death.

Peter wishes a more “positive” Messiah, and for a focus that meets the short-sighted expectations of the mortal world. But Jesus, who sees all things in light of the immortal souls He has come to save, calls Peter in that moment an “obstacle.”

“You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do,” Jesus says to Peter.

Smith said that faith is what makes that difference, enabling the faithful to see the world in the terms of what God is desiring and planning to bring about. Without that faith, people are locked into their own short-term and limited visions of the world.

In conclusion, Smith quoted the reading of the day from Saint Paul: ““Do not conform yourself to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.”