Daily Gospel Reflection for February 21, 2019

Today's Gospel: Mark 8:27-33 Jesus asks “Who do you say that I am?” I wonder if I fully understand, in my limited humanness this side of eternity, the full truth of the answer to this question, and if that truth is even tolerable. When I say tolerable, I think of visceral reactions to things like too much stress, or sweets, or exposure to the sun. We are fragile beings, though we would like to think otherwise, and have predictable responses when we have reached our limits. Are we not to tell of Jesus’ limitlessness before we’ve first grappled with the Incarnation? Once we’ve come to — somewhat limited — terms with the Who of Emmanuel, we’re not to keep that realization to ourselves. That insecurity of not having the full truth is Satan’s doing, not what God wants. A friend had shared with me when he sat in adoration reflecting on God’s words, “I AM”, he was touched by being made aware that “I am, too” That “I am”, in small case, is a kind of acceptance that I am as God has made me. Human, fragile, and a soul struggling to come to terms and tolerate the immensity of God’s love even in my hampered knowing.