The Catholic Liturgy for the 24th
Sunday of Ordinary Time, Sept. 16, 2018. Gospel – Mark 8:27-35. Theme: You are
An Anointed One.
Peter said to him, “You are the Christ.” So,
what exactly does that title mean? To understand it’s great importance in the
Bible, we have to recall the first or original sin of Adam and Eve. Because of
this sin the whole human race was spiritually alienated from God, but He promised
to heal the rift and make things right again by sending a Savior. This Promised
One came to be known as the MESSIAH.
In Hebrew, Messiah means “anointed one”. In the Bible,
those who were chosen by God to be prophets or priests or kings were ANOINTED
with holy oil as a sign of their mission.
Since the Messiah was to be the greatest of these, He was known as THE
Anointed One. When Greek became the
primary world language “Messiah” was translated into word, CHRISTOS which in
English is CHRIST. And so there you have it. Christ means the Messiah: the
anointed prophet who would speak God’s Word to us, the anointed priest who
would enable us to offer worship true worship to God, the anointed king who
would lead not by strict domination like earthly kings but by loving service.
Now here is an awesome truth: each one of us who are
baptized share in this Messiah-mission.
That is why we are called Christians. As you might imagine, this word comes from the
same root as Christ and it means “anointed ones”. Right after baptizing us with
water the priest or deacon anointed us with Chrism, a consecrated holy oil that
also comes from the same root word as Christ and Christian. And he prayed these
words as he anointed us: God the Father
of our Lord Jesus…now anoints you with the chrism of salvation. As Christ was
anointed Priest, Prophet, and King…And if that wasn’t enough, we were anointed
once again, at Confirmation. What does
this anointing ask of us?
A prophet is anointed to be a messenger from God, a person
who speaks for God by word and action. Prophets call people to conversion, to a
relationship with God. Prophets speak the truth even when people do not want to
hear the truth. However, prophets are often persecuted and sometimes even killed
for this message. But Jesus assures us in today’s Gospel that “whoever loses
his life for my sake and that of the gospel will save it” We Anointed Ones are called to bring God’s message to others first of
all by living it and even by being ready to die for it.
A priest is someone who offers worship and sacrifice to
God. You might be surprised to know that
the Bible and the Church teach that all baptized Christians are a priestly
people. We especially exercise our baptismal priesthood by joining with the
ordained priest in worship at the Eucharist.
At Mass, we encounter the Sacrifice of the Cross in a deeply mystical but real
way, and can unite our struggles and difficulties with those of Jesus. We offer
up all that we endure as an act of love and worship to the Father for the good
of the world.
Finally, we Anointed Ones are royalty, sharing in the
Kingship of Christ. But Jesus reminds us that He is a very different kind of
king that the ones we might imagine. He comes to establish the Kingdom of God in
human hearts. As Anointed Ones that is our mission as well. In today’s Gospel, Jesus
invites us to follow Him, that is, to imitate His example, His way of living
and loving, so that the Kingdom of God can spread to every human heart through
us.
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