Following God, Not the World
Gospel Reflection for Friday, September 26th, the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time
A valuable lesson we can learn from today’s Gospel is the importance of staying true to God, not society. In fact, many of us seek pleasure in what St. Thomas Aquinas calls particular goods in this world. These are goods which show us the goodness of God but which only provide us with temporary happiness that will eventually fade away, like food or money. However, since the world tells us these things will make us happy, many of us believe that, but we don’t realize that the only way we will truly experience happiness is in God. God is our ultimate good, as St. Thomas explains.
In today’s Gospel, the disciples tell Jesus who the crowds think he is, and they say John the Baptist or Elijah. When Jesus asks Peter what he thinks of Jesus, “But who do say that I am?” Peter declares him as the Christ. When we let go of what the world thinks and adhere to trusting God, we will grow infinitely closer to him. We learn to see him as he really is: pure goodness and love.
Who do you that Jesus is?
