by Fr. Edward Foley, Capuchin<\/em><\/p>\n Recently a colleague sent a YouTube link We had just finished a Zoom meeting On the other hand, he confessed Whether its appearing on Zoom What triggers this foray into Zoom tips and Facebook hints Peter shines in this passage, The other apostolic students got passing grades Jesus heaps praise upon his student, Conversely, Jesus does not seem to come off so well. Was it the confrontation with the Canaanite woman last week As so often happens, however, For example, if Peter is thinking about posting a clip Jesus, on the other hand, should not be worried This well-known gospel is not a pop quiz Such an interpretation makes sense And in the process of his sacred reversal and divine rethink, USonians, as architect Frank Lloyd Wright wanted to call us, Ancient middle Eastern people were different .[1] Similarly, the Kenyan born theologian John Mbiti muses Jesus\u2019 question thus reflects a normal, Mediterranean curiosity One apparent reasons Jesus needs this feedback All people in Nazareth were thought to be alike and worthless, Another stereotypical identification of Jesus appears Presumably fed up with being pigeon-holed, The replies: So Jesus presses for Simon\u2019s opinion: But this week Peter scores a pivotal profession of faith. That would be a useful set of keys to have these days, But only if we practice his dyadic gift Dr.\u00a0 Frank Mayfield was touring Tewksbury Institute when he collided with an elderly floor maid.\u00a0 To cover the awkward moment he asked, “How long have you worked here?” “Almost since the place opened,” the maid replied.\u00a0 “What can you tell me about this place?” he asked.\u00a0 “I\u2019ll show you.” She led him to the basement.\u00a0 She pointed to small prison cells, their bars rusted with age.\u00a0 She said, “That’s where they kept Annie.” “Who’s Annie?” he asked.\u00a0 “A young girl brought here because she was incorrigible.\u00a0 Nobody could do anything with her.\u00a0 She’d bite and scream and throw her food at people.\u00a0 The doctors and nurses couldn’t get near her.\u00a0 I’d see them trying, with her spitting and scratching.\u00a0 I was only a few years younger, and I used to think, ‘I sure would hate to be locked up in a cage.’ I wanted to help her, but if the doctors and nurses couldn’t help her, what could someone like me do?\u00a0 so I baked her brownies.\u00a0 I walked carefully to her cage and said, ‘Annie I baked brownies just for you.\u2019\u00a0 I’ll put them down and then I got out of there as fast as I could.\u00a0 I was afraid she might throw them at me.\u00a0 But she took the brownies and ate them.\u00a0 After that, she was nice to me.\u00a0 Sometimes I’d talk to her.\u00a0 Once, I got her laughing.\u00a0 A nurse noticed and told the doctor.\u00a0 They asked me if I’d help them with Annie.\u00a0 I said I\u2019d try.\u00a0 So every time they wanted to see or examine her, I went into the cage and calmed her down and held her hand.\u00a0 They discovered Annie was almost blind. After they worked with her a year, Perkins Institute for the Blind opened.\u00a0 They helped her and she went on to study and become a teacher.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em>Years later Annie came back to the Tewksbury to visit and asked what she might do to help.\u00a0 The Director had just received a letter from a man about his daughter.\u00a0 She was unruly, blind and deaf, deranged and animalistic \u2026 but He didn’t want to put her in an asylum.\u00a0 So he wrote to ask if we knew a teacher who would work with his daughter.” That is how Annie Sullivan became the lifelong companion of Helen Keller.\u00a0 Years later, when Keller received the Nobel Prize, she was asked who had the greatest impact on her life.\u00a0 She said, “Annie Sullivan.” But Annie said, “No Helen.\u00a0 The woman with the greatest influence on both our lives was a floor maid at the Tewksbury Institute.\u201d <\/em>[2]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u00a0<\/em>A scrub maid, who chose to use her power of the keys, The God of Jesus Christ has aptly been described as a God for us. [3] This Sunday, we are reminded that in birth and baptism May the Eucharistic act that looms in our insistent future _____________<\/p>\n
\ncontaining a series of tips for looking great in a Zoom meeting.
\nIt covered lighting, background, camera angles,
\nand much more.<\/p>\n
\nso the message was not lost on me.<\/p>\n
\nthat while he looked very professional for the meeting,
\nclean shaven, hair combed, crisp button-down shirt,
\nwhat the camera did not reveal was the rest of his attire –
\nwhich consisted of a Hawaiian bathing suit and flipflops.<\/p>\n
\nor deciding what selfie to post on our Facebook homepage,
\nwe all like to put our best mug forward.<\/p>\n
\nis today\u2019s gospel and my musings that,
\nif there was any video from the event,
\nPeter might want to post it front and center,
\nand Jesus might want to bury the clip altogether.<\/p>\n
\nshooting to the front of the class as he delivers his A+ answer.<\/p>\n
\non the question about what other\u2019s think about Jesus\u2019 identity.
\nBut when it comes to \u201cwhat do YOU think\u201d
\nPeter nails it: You are the Christ, Son of the Living God.<\/p>\n
\nannouncing that he will be foundational
\nnot only for the rest of the apostolic course load,
\nbut for the Rabbi\u2019s very legacy<\/p>\n
\nAlmost 60% through the gospel of Matthew,
\nhe seems to be having an identity crisis.<\/p>\n
\nthat threw him off his game and shook his confidence,
\nso that now he is reduced to asking students
\nto clarify his career path and identity?<\/p>\n
\nGospel meaning is not so obvious or one-dimensional,
\nand Paul\u2019s caution about the inscrutability of God
\nfinds immediate resonance here.<\/p>\n
\nof his great triumph on YouTube,
\nit had better be a very short clip,
\nbecause seconds after Jesus praises him to the heavens,
\nhe metaphorically knocks him to hell,
\nrechristening him not \u201cRocky\u201d but Satan.<\/p>\n
\nabout posting this probing and wondering video clip,
\ngiven the fact that his main profile picture on Facebook
\nhas him hanging on a cross,
\nand that portrait of his wretched demise
\nis the unexpected portal to salvation for all.<\/p>\n
\nor calculated trap for raising up then taking down Peter.
\nRather, it is a dialogue of self-discovery,
\na reflection about identity and mission.<\/p>\n
\nin light of last Sunday\u2019s encounter with that Canaanite woman
\nin which Jesus came to understand
\nthat just as Samaritan divorcee\u2019s lives matter,
\nand the lives of the sinful and the leprous matter,
\nand widows\u2019 and the outcasts\u2019 lives matter as well,
\nso also:
\nCanaanite lives matter too.<\/p>\n
\nJesus\u2019 understanding of the commonwealth of God
\nwas blown wide open.<\/p>\n
\nare some of the most individualistic people in the world.
\nWe strive to be distinctive in so many ways,
\nepitomized by our unique social security number
\nwhich we increasingly guard with some kind of identity lock.<\/p>\n
\nExperts sometimes describe them as dyadic personalities,
\nculturally oriented to the other.
\nNot obsessed with their own individuality,
\nthey were reliant upon others in their journey of self-discovery<\/p>\n
\n\u201cI am because WE are and since we are therefore I am.\u201d
\nIronically, even though as infants we all started out that way,
\na dominant instinct in US society
\nis to abandon such thinking as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n
\nabout what other people think
\nand not some divine identity crisis.<\/p>\n
\nis because he is consistently stereotyped by contemporaries.
\nHis enemies pigeonholed him as \u201cJesus of Nazareth.\u201d
\nTo know a person\u2019s place of origin is purportedly
\nto know everything about them.
\n[So I am not going to tell you I was born in Gary, Indiana].<\/p>\n
\nso the future disciple Nathanael\u2019s pointed asked:
\n\u201cCan anything good come from Nazareth?\u201d (John 1:46)<\/p>\n
\nin being labeled as \u201cthe carpenter\u2019s son\u201d (Mark 6:3).
\nAnother dismissive move
\nsummarized in the familiar maxim \u201clike father, like son.\u201d<\/p>\n
\na tried and true method for erasing folk
\nstill rampant in our own political and social discourse,
\nJesus asks his disciples what others are saying about him.<\/p>\n
\nJohn the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, another prophet?
\nHonorable if mistaken perceptions.<\/p>\n
\nImpulsive, insightful, erratic Peter,
\nwho two weeks ago bounded over the side of the boat
\nat Jesus\u2019 command,
\nquickly sank like a stone then became a buoyant rock;
\nwhom next week Jesus will call Satan;
\nand who every Holy Week reenacts
\nthe most famous denial scene of all time.<\/p>\n
\nAnd for that, Jesus honors him
\nwith the keys to the kingdom of heaven,
\nallowing him and the other disciples
\nto withstand the very gates of hell.<\/p>\n
\ngiven the employment hell,
\nthe Covid hell,
\nthe political hell,
\nand other personal hells we are currently enduring \u2013
\noften marked with the sulphuric fumes
\nof intolerance, greed and animosity
\nbelching forth with unwelcomed frequency these days.
\nIn the midst of what appears to be a record deficit season
\nin public charity and human decency,
\nJesus\u2019 words can be a source of solace \u2026
\nthat this sometimes hellacious context will not overwhelm us.<\/p>\n
\nand shape us, our society, our church in tune with others,
\nwhich means allowing ourselves to be seen clearly
\nand reflected honestly in the mirror of the other
\nin their needs, their dignity, their humanity,
\nso as to affirm them as respected key holders
\nwho are able to unlock the potential of their own selves
\nand unlock that potential in us as well.<\/p>\n
\nan almost blind incorrigible,
\nwho chose to use her power of the keys,
\nand for all that unlocking
\na world was enriched, a Nobel laureate emerged ,
\nand a story of dyadic love again finds incarnation.<\/p>\n
\nJesus was the ultimate incarnation of that holy instinct
\nof a divinity continuously communicating
\n\u201cI am for you, I am for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nwe were created and recreated in the image of that God;
\nwe, and not just the pope,
\nwere given the ministry of binding and loosing
\nand have our own set of keys
\nthat can either be used for socially caging those around us
\nand imprisoning ourselves in self-righteousness,
\nor for setting captives free,
\nfor unlocking doors of dignity and affirmation,
\nand announcing individually and collectively
\nto the marginalized and abused,
\nto the downtrodden and forgotten,
\nto the homeless and the hopeless,
\nI am for you, I am for you,
\nas you wield your own power of the keys.<\/p>\n
\ninaugurate us again into the grace of true communion,
\nso that through our dyadic living
\nthe gates of hell in whatever form they take
\nin our individual and collective lives
\nmight be forever sealed,
\nand the gifts of the spirit be unlocked
\nand flow abundantly around us and through us,
\nthrough Christ our Lord.<\/p>\n