＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

Ecclesiastes 3:1-11

There is a given time

for everything and a time for every happening under heaven: A time for giving birth, a time for dying; a time for plant­ing, a time for uprooting. A time for killing, a time for healing; a time for knocking down, a time for building.

A time for tears, a time for laugh­­ter; a time for mourning, a time for dancing. A time for throwing stones, a time for gathering stones; a time for embracing, a time to refrain from em­bracing. A time for searching, a time for losing; a time for keeping, a time for throwing away.

A time for tearing, a time for sewing; a time to be silent and a time to speak.  A time for loving, a time for hating; a time for war, a time for peace.  What profit is there for a man from all his toils?

 Finally I considered the task God gave to the humans. He made everything fitting in its time, but he also set eternity in their hearts, although man is not able to embrace the work of God from the beginning to the end.

 

Ps 144:1b & 2abc, 3-4

Blessed be the Lord, my Rock!

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊

Luke 9:18-22

One day when Jesus was pray­ing alone, not far from his disciples, he asked them, “What do peo­ple say about me?” And they answered, “Some say that you are John the Baptist; others say that you are Elijah, and still others that you are one of the former prophets risen from the dead.”

Again Jesus asked them, “Who then do you say I am?” Peter answered, “The Messiah of God.” Then Jesus spoke to them, giving them strict orders not to tell this to anyone.

And he added, “The Son of Man must suffer many things. He will be rejected by the elders and chief priests and teachers of the Law, and put to death. Then after three days he will be raised to life.”

 

Gospel Reflection：

Jesus wants us to know Him, not just know about Him. Knowing about Him concerns outside information like who His parents are or to whom He can be compared. Knowing Jesus makes us sense what He thinks, what He feels, and what He will do next.

Above all, knowing Jesus means being able to do something instinctively as He would do it. When I see a hungry person, for example, the instinct is to give him food than ask him why he is not working or wondering about where his family is.

When Peter expressed he knows Jesus as the Messiah, he cites his direct connection not the commentaries and outside rumors. Jesus asks us to know Him from the inside, from our heart, from our personal faith. Then we act like Him so that people would say: “I know Jesus when I see you.”