1st Reading: Ez 1:2-5,24-28
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 148:1-2,11-14
Gospel: Mt 17:22-27
The apostles separated the death of Christ from His Resurrection and thus they were filled with despair. In their despair they only placed their focus upon His death. I would agree that death is a sad thing especially when it is the mark for which you place your hope. Christ also informed them that He would rise from the dead in three days time. This should of been a reason for them to be filled with joy instead of being filled with despair. With the announcement that Christ would rise again in three days we realize that death has been conquered and there is reason to rejoice.
It is important for us not fall in this same trap. We must look to the death of Christ and not separate it from His Resurrection. The death of Christ is an important thing for us to meditate upon, but we cannot only spend time with His death. The Resurrection of Christ is also a praiseworthy thing to meditate upon, but we cannot separate it from the reality that came with the death of Christ. These two pivotal events in the life Christ must be bound together because they are important aspects of our Christian faith. These important events in the life of Christ reveal that He is the Son of God who has fulfilled prophecy and thus brought our redemption.
In the second half of today's Gospel we are given a very weird story concerning the temple tax. Here Christ reveals to Peter that He does not need to offer the tax to the temple because He is the Son of God. Despite the fact that He is the Son of God He continues to pay the tax of the temple. It is due to this reality that the death and resurrection of Christ is so important and thus should bring joy into our souls. God become man through His Son, suffered upon the cross for our sins, and rose again from the dead. May we join with Greta joy as we draw ourselves closer to this reality through our life of prayer.
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