On this Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Jesus teaches us a very difficult spiritual lesson in his rebuke of St. Peter. The only way to grow in holiness is to die to our false selves, the selves that we have created, so that we might rise as the unique image of God our loving Creator has created each of us to be. As Tony Crescio explains, above all, this means doing away with the vice of pride, and cultivating the virtue of humility with the help of God’s grace. By doing so, we leverage our ability to change for the good and become ever more perfect reflections of the life of God here and now.
Mass Readings:
Reading 1: Jeremiah 20:7-9
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 63:2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9
Reading 2: Romans 12:1-2
Gospel: Matthew 16:21-27
Tony Crescio is the founder of FRESHImage Ministries. He holds an MTS from the University of Notre Dame and is currently a PhD candidate in Christian Theology at Saint Louis University. His research focuses on the intersection between moral and sacramental theology. His dissertation is entitled, Presencing the Divine: Augustine, the Eucharist and the Ethics of Exemplarity.
Tony’s academic publications can be found here.