Tuesday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time

Today's Mass Readings

There are a lot of great themes packed into today's readings. I just want to highlight one of them, since our first readings for a while are taken from the First Letter of St. Peter, the first pope. Suffering plays an important role in this letter, which often alludes to the passage of the Suffering Servant of the Lord (Isaiah 52:13-53:12). In 1 Peter 1:11, from today's first reading, we hear St. Peter speak of "the sufferings destined for Christ and the glories to follow them." St. Peter is referring to the testimony of the Old Testament prophets, and clearly the Prophet Isaiah is especially in mind, but also Jeremiah and others who sufferd much for the sake of the mission and the message entrusted to them.

The Old Testament prophetic literature, like Isaiah's Suffering Servant passage already mentioned, describe immense sufferings of a servant figure. The New Testament consistently interprets these passages as referring to Jesus the Christ. The important focus for St. Peter, however, is not so much Jesus' sufferings themselves, but rather "the glories" which followed Jesus' sufferings.

What glories could St. Peter be referring to? For Jeus it was the resurrection, His ascension into heaven and His place at the right hand of the Father. For us the glories are the fruits of Christ's suffering - the Sacraments: Baptism, the Eucharist, Confirmation, Reconciliation, Matrimony, Holy Orders, Anointing of the Sick----all of these are a means of sacramentally participating in Christ's redeeming suffering. Each of these Sacraments presents us with a special grace to live out our Christian lives. Central among these stands the Eucharist, although all of these Sacraments are grounded in and presuppose Baptism.

We participate in the glorious mysteries to which St. Peter alludes in the first reading for today when we participate in the Church's Sacraments. Let us then be encouraged by the grace we receive. Let us truly live the sacramental Catholic life so that we may experience the abundant riches God has in store for us in the glorious mysteries. But let us also take heart, especially when we experience suffering of any kind, because, like Jesus' own sufferings, our sufferings are merely a prelude to the glories which follow.

Jeff Morrow