Today's Thoughts...

Today’s Thoughts: In or first reading for the Book of the Prophet Jerimiah, God says he will be in our hearts. He will not be external. He will not be pages in a book. He will not be rules to memorize. He will be an integral part of us. He will be our hearts. Meaning that God is an internal force. When God is in our hearts, we can ‘think’ like God. We will not have to learn how to know God or have to teach others. We will know God because he is in our hearts.
 
In our Gospel, we encounter what can happen when we let God into our heart. Who does Peter say that Jesus is? “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” When Peter lets Jesus into his heart, he recognizes Jesus’ divinity. However, as we discover later in our Gospel, Peter returns to his old way and begins to think like a human being again, not like God. He does want Jesus to suffer and die. He does not want his friend to talk in such a way, to go through that. He does not want to lose his friend. He is thinking like a human being with earthly limits, rather than thinking like God. Peter fails to see the bigger picture.
 
When we see religion, church, faith as an external construct, as accidentals rather than essentials, we get caught up in earthly thinking, with inexplicable puzzles, and problems. When we accept that God is in our hearts, we see beyond our small little world, we see a much bigger picture. If we let God in our hearts, we can begin to think like God, to see like God and that can make all the difference!
 
Have a great Thursday everyone.