FIRST READING
“’There is a time for every matter under heaven.”
A reading from the Book of Ecclesiastes (Ecclesiastes 3:1-11)
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to rend, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace. What gain has the worker from his toil?
I have seen the business that God has given to the sons of men to be busy with. He has made everything beautiful in its time; also he has put eternity into man’s mind, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
The word of the Lord.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM Psalm 144:la and 2abc.3-4 (R. la)
R/. Blest be the Lord, my rock!
Blest be the Lord, my rock.
He is my merciful love, my fortress;
he is my stronghold, my saviour,
my shield in whom I take refuge. R.
Lord, what is man that you regard him,
the son of man that you keep him in mind,
man who is merely a breath,
whose days are like a passing shadow? R.
ALLELUIA Mark 10:45
Alleluia. The Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Alleluia.
GOSPEL
You are the Christ of God. The Son of man must suffer many things.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Luke 9: 18-22)
Now it happened that as Jesus was praying alone the disciples were with him; and he asked them, “Who do the people say that I am?” And they answered, “John the Baptist; but others say, Elijah; and others, that one of the old prophets has risen.” And he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered, “The Christ of God.” But he charged and commanded them to tell this to no one, saying, “The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
Today’s Reflection
Who do you say that I am? While some try to avoid the question and others try to tiptoe towards it. This is the Jesus’ question we all must answer. Not who your parents, spouse, priests, pastors, teachers or friend s say that Jesus is but who do you say that he is. It is a question that must be answered at the level of a personal encounter with Jesus. He wants us to be clear about his identity and the more we discover who he is, the more we place him at the core of our lives, we make him our personal Lord and saviour.