How comfortable are you with the depiction of the crucified Christ? 

What is at the center of your discipleship?  What cross does Jesus ask us to carry as part of our discipleship? At the center of Christianity is Christ dying for us. The cross we are asked to carry is our limited humanity.  We will not always be young, healthy, in control. Our humanity is our own cross.  How many times do we struggle with this?  What are you struggling with right now?  Give it to the Messiah.

Ponder:
What are you struggling with to hand over to Jesus?

"Take, Lord, receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, my whole will, all that I have and all that I possess. You gave it all to me, Lord; I give it all back to you. Do with it as you will, according to your good pleasure. Give me your love and your grace; for with this I have all that I need." 

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Peter's humanness is so much like day to day life choosing to follow and to fall.

Our christian life is like a depiction described by Thomas Aquinas.
A constant battle of running away (a coward), someone who is always ready to fight (the brave fool), or the one in the middle (the virtuous person) who has to constantly discern is it time to fight or time to walk away?

The essence of Christianity is difficult because it is easy to fight or run away.  The path of virtue is to discern where your focus is where you constantly discerning.  Sometimes you have to stand and fight sometimes you have to walk away. 
To be conformed to the world, is a huge pitfall. Form yourself to Christ there are no tomorrow.   

Ponder:
Conform yourself to Christ, there is no tomorrow

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When there is chaos and unrest in the world, and in our lives one thing all the great saints do especially St. John the Baptist is they remove themselves from the world, he focused on heaven. 
St. John's way to Jesus and his example are important for us.  One thing the apostles do is they always recognize who He is right away.  God is God.  I must decrease, He must increase. 
Fr. Peter stresses the importance of changing ourselves even in prayer and asking for what we need. 

Ponder
How can you renounce the world in someway shape or form keep focus on God. 

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Memorial of St. Augustine

Where are you restless in your life? 

The restlessness for the quest for the truth, the restlessness for the quest of God,
the restlessness of always coming to know God better and of going out of oneself to always make Him known to other people. 

Our routines can make us complacent, passive losing the element of awe and wonder. 

A dynamic quality of faith is that, faith should always lead us to a daily awe and wonder.  There is always something new about faith.  Faith is always dynamic, never static, always on the go, a journey until we arrive at Him until whom our restlessness finds its completeness and answer.

Thought to Ponder:
Lord, help us to have restless hearts so that we may find our rest in you. 

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Memorial of St. Monica

We celebrate St. Monica because of her perseverance in prayer, patient endurance, model of faith, trust and confidence in God as a wife and mother.  Like in the gospel today, Monica stayed awake in her prayer life.  It is in our patient endurance that we grow in faith.

To Ponder:
Who are the Augustine's in your life?

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When the outside doesn't match the inside
Not using the excuse "what you see is what you get"

To Ponder:
Are there things we have to hide from those we know and love because we are afraid of rejection?

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St John Chrysostom on the temptations of the devil

The five paths of repentance

• condemnation of sins
• forgive the sins of those near us
• prayer
• almsgiving
• humility

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So much of our faith is about knowing or being known which requires vulnerability.  

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There is nothing more beautiful than watching someone you love get back up after they fall.

Peter fell down  A LOT, but he was the one who had enough faith to get out of the boat. 

Thought to Ponder
Pray LORD SAVE ME
quo vadis (where are you going?)

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In his homily, Fr. Cary points out how many times the disciples failed to recognize who Jesus was.  How often am I like Peter?

Thought to Ponder: 
In my life, do I let God be God?  

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