6th Week, Friday, Feb 21st: Saint Peter Damian
Genesis 11:1-9 / Mark 8:34 - 9:1
Let's build a tower; ''Let's make a name for ourselves."
Someone compared people on earth to images of people on a television screen. These tiny images owe their existence to the television set. When the set goes on, the images go on. When the set goes off, they go off. Suppose these images decided to rebel.
Suppose they said to the television set, "We declare our independence from you. We can get along without you."
Such a situation would be ludicrous. It would be like an echo saying to a voice, "l declare my independence from you. I don't need you anymore.
We have a similar situation in today's reading. The people's sin isn't their desire to build a tower to the sky. It's their desire to make a name for themselves. ICs their effort to be independent of God.
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To what extent have we declared our independence from God? "God humbled himself—and still man is proud." St. Augustine
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Our first reading expresses the desire for mutual understanding, respect and tolerance: “If we could only speak all the same language!” The author uses the occasion to ridicule the proud Babylon that destroyed nations and cultures. “Babal” means “to confuse” in Assyrian. Babylonians deserved a monument for confusing people.
Being a disciple of Jesus implies journeying with Jesus on the way of the cross. Christians, followers of Christ, are people marked with the cross. We make the sign of the cross not merely symbolically when we pray but also in real life, whether we like it or not. We have to learn to accept the cross with Jesus.
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It is said that life is a never-ending learning process. That is true, because every day we learn something new, or we ought to learn something new so that our minds are nourished and can grow intellectually. But we also need to be careful about what we learn just as we have to be careful about what we eat. Because what we learn can either make us better people or it might just give us the wrong thinking and end up doing the wrong things.
In the 1st reading, we heard that the people learnt how to build and they built a town and a tower with a top reaching heaven. The purpose of their building is to make a name for themselves. Learning to build is certainly a good thing but the idea of building in order to make a name for themselves has slanted into a selfish and egoistic direction. And for that God confused their language and scattered the people over the whole face of the earth. And that also ended their proud ambition of building a tower to reach heaven.
In the gospel, Jesus gave us a teaching about being His disciple. He said: If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me. For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake will save it. It is a teaching that is difficult to understand and even more difficult to learn and put it into practice. But let us also remember that what gain is it for a man to win the whole world and yet ruin his life. Or what can a man offer in exchange for his life?
So let us learn from Jesus our Master and Teacher about the meaning and purpose of life. If not, then all our learning and knowledge might be in vain.
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Prayer
God of power and love, in your mercy, you sent us your Son to liberate us by his cross from our selfishness and from fear and sin and death. Make us grow in the mentality of Jesus and fill us with the strength of his Spirit, that we may bear life’s burdens with him and with him also take the pains to live for others and to bring them hope and joy. May we thus, go the way of Jesus Christ, our Lord.
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Saint Peter Damian; Feast day February 21:
Born in Ravenna, Italy, in 1007, Peter Damian knew hardship
as a child. He became a successful teacher, but only for a short time. He was
ordained to the priesthood, and in 1035, he entered a Benedictine monastery.
The monks lived in small hermitages, with two monks in each. Peter was known
for his fasting, penance, and long hours of prayer. In 1043, he was elected
abbot. Peter began reorganizing the rules of the order to return to the
original spirit and purpose of the order. Men were drawn to the monastery, and
Peter started five other foundations.
In 1057, Peter was made cardinal and bishop of Ostia. Soon
he was called upon by the Church to settle disputes, attend synods, and fight
abuses. He devoted much energy to helping the clergy, as well as the leaders of
the empire. With his letters, biographies, sermons, stories, and poems, he
encouraged others to restore discipline to their lives. Through all his
diplomatic missions, Peter Damian remained a monk at heart. He served the
Church as he was asked, however, and as best he could. He died February 22,
1072, and in 1828, was declared a Doctor of the Church.
