One of the biggest worries for all of us, who take our faith seriously, is the amount of people falling away from the Church today. We can take heart, when we read these words of Jesus in the gospel today. The doctrine of Jesus was very challenging two thousand years ago, and it is very challenging today. Some people will say that the Church must change, its beliefs and doctrine are too demanding for the world today. Archbishop Diarmuid Martin: “the only way the church will fail is if it is not true to its doctrine.” If the Church is to remain faithful to Jesus Christ it must always be a challenge to us, as Christ was to the people of his time. Christ’s challenge is to the heart and not to the mind. It is when we are faced with challenge that we show our true colours. There are 3 different attitudes in today’s gospel.

1. Defection: People turn away from Christ. These were the fair weather followers. They say that the test of an army is how it fights when they are tired. Some people today follow Christ as long it is to their liking, but at the first shadow of the cross they abandon ship. These are the people who come to Christ, who come to the Church, to see what they can get for themselves, but when they are faced with a challenge or are invited to give of their time and support their time they abandon ship like the followers in the gospel today.
2. Deterioration: The years can be very cruel; they can take away our ideals, our enthusiasms, and our dreams. Story of the young man whom Leonardo Da Vinci used to paint the figure of John the Apostle in his masterpiece the Last Supper, that same man many years later was used as a model for painting Judas by the artist. Have I deteriorated in my allegiance to Christ and the Church?
3. Determination: This is seen in Peter’s words. Peter’s loyalty was based on a personal relationship. He did not understand everything, he was puzzled on numerous occasions, but he would willingly die for Jesus. Many times we do not understand, we also ask why does God allow certain things to happen. Despite all the negativity that is rampant from certain sectors of our media, our experience of church is that of welcome and love, of healing and support and we know that our church in our community plays a key role in bringing forth a more humane, caring world. We Catholics love our church. A very different church is portrayed by the media where it appears intolerant, dogmatic and judgmental. For most of us this is not our experience of church. We are not rejecting the legitimate criticisms – there is so much to criticize-, but this is not the full picture.

Peters loyalty to Jesus was seen in the thousands who accompanied Pope Francis in Knock and the Phoenix Park.

This week has been a wonderful time for our church where our Leader and Pastor came among us and confirmed us in the faith reminding us of how much God loves us.