From today's gospel: "Jesus and his disciples set out for the villages of Caesarea Philippi. Along the way he asked his disciples, 'Who do people say that I am?' They said in reply, 'John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others one of the prophets.' And he asked them, 'But who do you say that I am?' Peter said to him in reply, 'You are the Christ.' Then he warned them not to tell anyone about him. He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and rise after three days. He spoke this openly. Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. At this he turned around and, looking at his disciples, rebuked Peter and said, 'Get behind me, Satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.'
From De La Salle, Letter 118: "You are right in saying that in the light of faith, you see things quite differently from when they are looked at in themselves. . . ."
From the Rule of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, 6: "By faith, Brothers learn to discern in every event, and in every person, especially in the poor, a sign and a call of the Spirit . . . ."
As we learn, the core of faith is the building and strengthening of our relationship with God. Today's gospel and the writings of De La Salle and the Brothers present us with one of the results of that ever-growing relationship. Being in relationship with God means that we grow to see things differently than we have in the past. The love that God shares with us through his suffering, death, and resurrection lets us see with the lenses of that same love. We no longer see people and things as we would describe them in our humanly defined categories, but as created and loved by God and the sign and presence of the Spirit of love that animates and renews the world. May our vision of the young women and men who have been entrusted to our care be focused daily in this way.
Live, Jesus, in our hearts!