What the Devil Doesn’t Have

Before I embarked on my trip to the National Eucharistic Congress last summer with a group from my archdiocese, we had an orientation meeting.

At first, the Apostles try to dodge the question. When Jesus confronts them — and make no mistake, it is a confrontation — with the question “Who do you say that I am?” they act like a man whose wife has just asked him if she looks fat in these jeans. The evasiveness of their answer puts politicians to shame: “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” Some say. But Jesus doesn’t let them off easy. He repeats himself. He wants an answer. “Who do you say that I am?” They all know the answer. They all believe the answer. And they all know the answer could get them thrown in prison or killed. Only Peter is brave enough to say it: “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” People have a lot of opinions about God. They always have. They have a lot of opinions about Jesus and the Bible, about the Catholic Church and the Pope. Some of these opinions are well-founded, well-researched. Some of them are based in ignorance. Many are born of painful misunderstandings. But they are all just that: opinions. Some say. We know who Jesus is. We know who the Eucharist is. We know what the truth is. Amid the chaos and the violence and the excruciating loudness of this fallen world and all the words it shouts into the void about God and Jesus and right and wrong, we know . But will we answer? ©LPi