My thoughts and prayers have been with the pilgrims of the World Youth Day for the last few weeks. While the Youth of the world gathered around the Holy Father in Madrid, we were having our 5 day silent retreat. All forms of communications were not permitted, and we were all in complete silence for five days. So, a bit regretfully, I was not able to follow this awesome event as I had done so with the 2 previous ones.
Ever since I found out about this great occasion called World Youth Day in 2005 (that late, I know!), I have always been amazed by the powerful impact it has on our generation of young Catholics. I was greatly moved seeing thousands upon thousands of young people gathered around our Holy Father adoring our Blessed Lord. Such incredible witness of the liveliness of the Church! All because of Him – Jesus Christ – who brings us all together. Placing this in the context of the Gospel of this Sunday, we witnessed the beautiful and historical event in which Christ gave Peter the mission of becoming the rock upon which he would build his Church. Peter, as we are all aware, was just like us – a very flawed individual with his own sinfulness and limitations. But, in the midst of all that, Peter had great love for the Lord, and with this love, he professed his faith in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God.
Christ called Peter, this imperfect man, to become the foundation of the Church. Moreover, he called him to carry out this mission by becoming witness to the Gospel. It is, by no means, an easy mission. To carry out this mission entrusted to him, Peter had to endure many persecutions and hardships. And like his Master, Peter, too, gave his very life for this Gospel that he was asked to proclaim.
We all are called to be witnesses to Christ and his Gospel to the world today. In our own limitations, we are called by Christ. This, as it has always been, is not without a cost. In taking upon ourselves the task of becoming disciples of Jesus Christ, we will have to pay a price.
In his fifty-six years on the planet, Adolf Hitler did incredible harm and was responsible for millions of terrible deaths. Yet in all the horror that he unleashed, there are pinpoints of light and nobility. And a German soldier, Private Joseph Schultz, was one of these pinpoints.
He was sent to Yugoslavia shortly after the invasion. Schultz was a loyal, young German soldier on patrol. One day the sergeant called out eight names, his among them. They thought they were going on a routine patrol. As they hitched up their rifles, they came over a hill, still not knowing what their mission was. There were eight Yugoslavians there, standing on the brow of the hill, five men and three women. It was only when they got about fifty feet away from them, when any marksman could shoot out an eye of a pheasant, that the soldiers realized what their mission was.
Eight soldiers were lined up. The sergeant barked out, “Ready!” and they lifted up their rifles. “Aim,” and they got their sighs. And suddenly in the silence that prevailed, there was a thud of a rifle butt against the ground. The sergeant, the seven other soldiers and those eight Yugoslavians stopped and looked. Private Joseph Schultz walked toward the Yugoslavians. His sergeant called after him and ordered him to come back, but he pretended not to hear him.
Instead he walked the fifty feet to the mound of the hill, and he joined hands with the eight Yugoslavians. There was a moment of silence, then the sergeant yelled, “Fire!” And Private Joseph Schultz died, mingling his blood with that of those innocent men and women. Found on his body was an excerpt from St. Paul: “Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices in the truth. It ways protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres.”
Hopefully, we would never have to face such a situation. But for sure, Jesus Christ will ask us to join our hands with his. He will ask us to stand and to defend the right and the dignity of human persons from the moment of conception to natural death. He will ask us to side with the poor and the oppressed to protect and defend human equality and values. He will ask us to proclaim peace, love, and forgiveness.
This invitation will cost us. It will earn us alienations, disdain, humiliations, and even persecutions. It will cost us friendships, family, positions in society, our own security, and perhaps our own life.
But think! Shouldn’t we all have something – or rather Someone – worth fighting and standing up for?
Robert Mansfield was a white man in South Africa and the headmaster of an all white school who took his students to play cricket and hockey against the black schools. That is, until the department of education forbade him to do it anymore. So he resigned in protest. Shortly after, Emmanuel Nene, a leader in the black community, came to meet him. He said, “I’ve come to see a man who resigns his job because he doesn’t wish to obey an order that will prevent children from playing with one another.”
“I resigned because I think it is time to go out and fight everything that separates people from one another. Do I look like a knight in shining armor?”
“Yes, you look like a knight in shining armor, but you are going to get wounded. Do you know that?”
“I expect that may happen,” Mansfield replied.
“Well,” Nene said, “you expect correctly. People don’t like what you are doing, but I am thinking of joining with you in the battle.”
“You’re going to wear the shining armor, too?” Mansfield asked.
“Yes, and I’m going to get wounded, too. Not only by the government, but also by my own people as well.”
“Aren’t you worried about the wounds?”
“I don’t worry about the wounds. When I go up there, which is my intention, the Big Judge will say to me, ‘Where are your wounds?’ and if I say, ‘I haven’t any,’ he will say, ‘Was there nothing to fight for?’ I couldn’t face that question.”
“You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church.”
Each of us is a rock placed upon the Rock of Peter. What Christ asked Peter to do on that day was far beyond what he could ever imagine. What Christ asks us to do perhaps will also be far beyond what we could ever imagine.
But, Peter loved Christ and he gave Him his best.
Should we not try to do the same?
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