Celebrating an anniversary is always an opportunity to look back and reflect on the journey so far covered. This is especially true in cases like ours, as we celebrate our 90th year as a parish. There is something magical in numbers, be it 25, 50, or 90 as in our case.

So much has happened since 1930. It’s not my intention to go through our ninety-year-old history. But it is important to remember those who have written this history of ours. We remember our pastors, our spiritual leaders. St Paul’s has been blessed by pastors who have selflessly given so much to our people, starting from the Augustinian Fr Alphonse Cauchi, going through the many Franciscans who lovingly ministered during their almost 50 years of presence in our parish until it was entrusted to us Paulist Missionaries. Then there are the many lay people who have made St Paul’s their second home, people who have given much of their time and energy to the wellbeing of the parish. As I roam around the place I sense the presence of these people in every brick and every church-pew. Just like in every other family, they have gone through hard times and good ones, they have laughed, celebrated and shed tears. They have gone through times of joys and times of discouragement, times when they must have wondered whether this is all worth it. But forge ahead they did. Because, ultimately they believed that was the right thing to do. To all these people, we are very, very grateful.

I was thinking of all this while I was reflecting on today’s gospel. Jesus tells the story of the father who approaches his two sons, asking them to go work in the family’s vineyard. The first one hesitated, probably conscious of the hardships involved, or perhaps just due to the fact that he was not in the mood of working. Still, upon further reflection he changed his mind and went, deciding that that was the right thing to do. The other one, who did not dare being seen as disobedient, said that he would go, but never turned up. Those who heard the story had no difficulty concluding that it was the first one who did the right thing.

As a community of believers we are all called to be present in the Father’s vineyard. It is our home. Depending on our vocation in life, we are all called to give our share and participate in the mission of Jesus. Whether as parents or grandparents, pastors or friends, the calling is for everybody. There will be times when we do not feel like it, or times when we might feel discouraged. We do go through those moments when we are tempted to give everything up.

We continue to walk on the journey our predecessors have started. They knew that being part of a parish community is different to being a spectator. They gave their part. Like all of us they were not perfect. They made mistakes, but they were good enough to correct and move on. In the gospel Jesus praises the tax collectors and prostitutes (two categories of people considered as amongst the biggest sinners in his time) who listened to the call for conversion. Being a Christian does not mean being perfect!

​As a parish community we are called to continue together on our journey of faith. We are called to continue to give witness to our God who is always present and continuously loving. We are called to encourage and help each other grow. We are called to help others experience what we have freely received. Sometimes we might feel discouraged and tempted to give up. Those who came before us inspire us to move on. Because, deep down, we know that that’s the right thing to do.

Let’s face it, we all go through difficult times in our relationships. Whether it’s at work or college, within the family or with friends, sometimes we are going to either hurt the other person or get hurt by them. We all have different characters, and have different ideas, desires and priorities. We act differently and, above all, we all have our weaknesses which tend to get us into trouble. Without trying to trivialize the issue and make it sound simple, we can safely say that basically, when someone wrongs me, I have two options: harbor resentment or forgive.

When speaking about this issue, I often hear people telling me, “but he/she does not deserve my forgiveness”. Granted, but I believe that is where many people go wrong. Because, in reality, it is you who deserve to forgive the other person. Because unless you forgive, you cannot find peace; you are still under the power of the other person’s evil action. You are not free!

Humanly speaking, forgiveness does not come easy. Indeed, it is not something for the faint-hearted! Our instincts tell us to seek revenge (which we sometimes disguise as justice), to get back at the one who hurt us. “Eye for eye and tooth for tooth”, was the dictum in olden times. Jesus had a different policy. He, whose interest was in the whole human person and not just the spiritual aspect, knew that resentment never helped anyone. He lived forgiveness, and then he preached it. If we look at the gospel, we see that Jesus was always ready to forgive anyone who was willing to accept it. (The Pharisees never thought of themselves as needing forgiveness. That’s why Jesus could never reach them). Were the people whom Jesus forgave sorry for what they did? Not always. Zacchaeus climbed the tree out of curiosity; the woman caught in adultery found herself in front of Jesus simply because she was caught red-handed; the paralytic whose sins were declared forgiven was brought to Jesus only for physical heeling. In Jesus’ most famous parable, the prodigal son came back to the father only for selfish reasons: because he sought food and shelter. And yet, Jesus forgave, often without asking questions or explanations. He must have emphasized forgiveness so much when speaking to his disciples, that at one stage Peter, probably exasperated, asked him “how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?”, intending to mean indefinitely (Rabbis asked their followers to forgive up to three times). It was a bit of an exaggeration from Peter, but Jesus went even further, telling him not just seven, but seventy-seven times!

Why this insistence from Jesus? I believe there are two reasons. The first we’ve already hinted at above. Forgiveness brings peace and freedom first and foremost to the one who forgives. It is said that Nelson Mandela once said, “Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.” There’s a lot of truth in that statement. He also said, as he walked out of prison after 27 years, “as I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn’t leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I’d still be in prison.” Jesus’ message is always one that leads to freedom and life fully lived.

​The second reason is that we all need forgiveness. I know that I have wronged and hurt other people in my life, knowingly or unknowingly. I need to be forgiven and, as we ask God every time we pray the Our Father, “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us”. The first reading of today is very blunt: “Does anyone harbor anger against another, and expect healing from the Lord? If one has no mercy toward another like oneself, can one then seek pardon for one’s own sins?” 

There is a beautiful episode in the gospel (not today’s reading) where Jesus tells his followers: "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, `Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?” Here Jesus was telling his people to be careful not to judge others. But he was also making them, and us, aware that no one is perfect. We all have our defects, our difficulties, our strange, sometimes unhealthy, idiosyncrasies. What’s more important is the fact that, while we find it easy to see the defects or mistakes of others, we often find it difficult to see our own.

This is why today’s gospel is so important for us. Being a follower of Christ means that I am on a journey. I am not perfect yet. Nobody is! We have seen the example of Pope Peter during these last two Sundays. He had been declared Blessed and Rock by Jesus, and yet he falters … more than once. But Peter was mature enough to listen to Jesus’ rebuke, whom he loved with unparalleled love, and allow that moment to become an experience of growth in his relationship with his master.

In today’s gospel Jesus tells us, “If your brother or sister sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone”. There is so much to think about here. First of all Jesus is referring to the other person as my brother or sister. It is not the enemy, but someone who is doing the same journey with me. Both of us have a common Father who loves us so much that he gave us each other as gifts! Given that often I am not able to see my own mistake, I need someone else to help me in that area. Being helped by another to see my own mistake is, therefore, nothing more than an act of love. Jesus also indicates the way how to do it: quietly, when we are alone. Let’s face it: this is so different to what we usually do. Sometimes it seems that we are experts in noticing the sins of others, and then tell them to everybody else except to the person concerned! How often does it happen that the person concerned is the last one to know what is being said about him or her! This is not Christian. It is, definitely, not an act of love! Keeping in mind what Jesus had told us about the plank in our own eye should help us approach our brother or sister with humility. I do not correct someone because I am better than him or her. Far from it.

Sometimes it happens, unfortunately, that the other person would not listen. Here Jesus highlights the importance of community, when he tells us to take someone else with us to help that person. “Saving” the other person, helping them to get back on the right track, is such an important act in Jesus’ mind. In extreme cases, such a person should even be left alone, away from the community, hopefully to help him realize his mistake. All this is very important because, when someone is in sin, he is not in communion with the rest of the community. Remember that I can never be a Christian on my own. That's why the Eucharist, the sacrament of “communion” as we call it, is so central to our lives. Because in it we celebrate what we really are: one body, the body of Christ. Ultimately, this is what makes our prayer effective, then. Jesus concludes this gospel by emphasizing the importance of our communion with each other: agreeing in what we ask and remembering that when we are together in his name, he is present with us.

​The image used by the prophet Ezekiel in the first reading is very beautiful. “I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel” is his vocation. The watchman is always alert and on the lookout to make sure nothing bad befalls his people. As prophets, we too are called to watch over our brothers and sisters to help them from falling into dangerous situations.

“Blessed are you Simon … you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church” These words from last week’s gospel still echo in our churches, as we listen to today’s gospel. These words were the reply of Jesus to Peter, after he had declared Jesus as the Christ, or the Messiah. Today’s gospel is a continuation of the same story.

Following Peter’s declaration, Jesus told the disciples to tell nobody about it for the time being. Jesus knew that the people were not yet ready to accept him for who he really was. The general belief, and hope, was that the Messiah would be an earthly savior: a powerful, maybe political person who would free the people of Israel from foreign domination. The disciples, including Peter, were not exempt from this. So, while still being alone with his disciples, Jesus started to explain to them what type of Messiah he truly was. Rather than using many words, Jesus does this by telling them what he was about to do. This, he tells them, is going to be the programme of your Messiah. He will go to Jerusalem, he will suffer, be killed, and then rise from the dead. The way of this Messiah was an act of total, self-giving love.

Suffering and death was not what those men wanted to hear. Being his spontaneous self, Peter pipes up again and starts rebuking Jesus in no uncertain terms! The Rock, the one who was declared Blessed, the one who had just been given the keys of the kingdom, would have none of this. It was, then, Jesus’ turn to rebuke Peter with a simple, yet very powerful phrase. “Get behind me, Satan!” he tells him. The “rock” which was supposed to be the base of a Church, has now become “Satan” literally meaning a stumbling block, a stone that is in the way hindering someone from moving forward. “Get behind me”, Jesus tells Peter. Before being a rock, before being pope, Peter had to be a disciple. By definition a disciple is one who follows the master, not leading him. Here Peter had tried to tell Jesus what he should be doing, thus reversing the roles.

Let us not be scandalized of Peter. We all go through moments when we become a bit like Peter in our lives. How often do we, in our prayers, tell God to change things, events, or people in our lives! Like Peter we try to tell God that we know better! Peter’s story teaches us that, as disciples, we are supposed to follow Jesus—to let him lead the way, so that we can walk in his footsteps. Jesus’ steps took him to Jerusalem, and eventually up on the Golgotha. It was the greatest act of love, as he told us: there is no greater love, than to lay down ones life for the one you love. No wonder that Jesus then continues to teach the disciples about what being his follower means: it entails carrying the cross and losing one’s life. I know that very often our understanding of “cross” is not what Jesus intended. Speaking of one’s cross, Jesus never had in mind a sickness, a problem, or lack of money. The cross Jesus carried on his shoulders, and the one we are expected to carry, is whatever it takes to live out a life of total self-giving love. Because, ultimately, it is only this that can lead us to real life. It is important to notice that Jesus does not speak only of losing one’s life or of dying. These are not the end but, rather, a means for something better. It is losing one’s life so that we will truly find it, it is dying so that we can experience the joy of the resurrection.

St Paul knew that this is the only way that we can enjoy real life. Being such a down-to-earth person, he also knew that this was not easy. That is why he felt the need to beg his friends in Rome (in today’s second reading) to be “transformed”, to genuinely seek the will of God in their life. Peter needed to go through this kind of transformation. I’m sure most of us need it too. 

Let’s face it, we all sometimes wonder what other people think of us. Unfortunately, some people are too preoccupied with this. Whatever they do or say is almost always dictated by what other people might think. They are never truly free to be themselves. Without going to this pathological extreme, we find something very similar in today’s gospel. Jesus is with his disciples, his closest friends, and asks them what do people think of him. Who do they say he is? As always, different people have different impressions and ideas of the same person. So, the disciples start telling Jesus all the things that people were saying about him.

From the gospel story, it seems that Jesus is not really concerned about what people think. It looks like his question was just an introduction, an excuse that would lead to the really important question. Jesus does not react to any of the answers given, but goes straight to the point: “But,” he tells them, “who do you say that I am?” In his relationship with his close friends, this is what really matters for Jesus. “Who am I for you?” Come to think of it, we can say that this is a lover’s question. We can imagine two people who are really in love and asking each other: Who am I for you? What do you think of me? What difference do I make in your life? Anything else doesn’t really matter!

Our faith, our religion, is nothing more than our relationship with Christ. Everything that Jesus did was an expression of God’s love for us. That’s why he came to Earth; that’s why he healed, thought and eventually gave up his life. Given this great love, no wonder he makes the same question to each and every one of us: Who am I for you? What difference do I make in your life? We all have been taught many things about Jesus in our catechism classes, by our parents and grandparents, in school and at church. All of that is true, and must have helped us as we grew into getting to know him and entering in a personal relationship with him. What really matters to me now however, as an adult Christian, is who is Jesus for me? What difference does he make in my life?

Identifying who is Jesus for me will, then, help me understand better my identity as a Christian, as a follower of his. Once Peter acknowledged Jesus for who he really was (aided, as Jesus told him, by divine revelation) he immediately came to know what was Jesus’ dream for him. Peter becomes the rock on which Jesus was to build his Church. This does not make him perfect. On the contrary, we won’t have to wait long until we see Peter messing up (just wait for next Sunday!). And then we all know what happened during the passion of Jesus. But he’s on the right track, he learns from and grows through his mistakes, and his relationship with Jesus continues to grow stronger.

​Like Peter, we all have a mission in life. In different ways, depending on what God’s dream for us is, we all share in the mission of Jesus of building his Church. Basically, this is nothing more than helping others come to experience God’s love for them, helping them understand that there is a God who loves and who cares for them.