They distance themselves form Him. “This man is a bit dangerous, a bit...with these doctrines… Yes, He is a good man, He preaches and heals, but when He starts doing strange things… Please, let’s go” (see v. 66). And the disciples of Emmaus did the same thing, on the morning of the Resurrection: “But yes, it’s strange: the women say that the tomb… but this doesn’t look good, let’s go away before the soldiers come and crucify us” (see Lk 24:22-24). The soldiers who were guarding the tomb did the same: they had seen the truth, but then they preferred to sell their secret: “Let’s be sure, let’s not get involved in these stories, they are dangerous” (see Mt 28:11-15). A moment of crisis is a moment of choice, it is a moment that places us before the decisions that we must make. All of us, in life, have had and will have moments of crisis: family crises, marriage crises, social crises, crises at work, many crises… This pandemic, too, is a moment of social crisis. How does one react in a moment of crisis? “From this time many of His disciples turned back and no longer followed Him” (v. 66). Jesus makes the decision to question the apostles. “‘You do not want to leave too, do you?’ Jesus asked the Twelve” (Jn 6:67). Make a decision. And Peter makes the second confession: “Simon Peter answered Him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that You are the Holy One of God” (vv. 6869). Peter confesses in the name of the Twelve that Jesus is the Holy One of God, the Son of God. The first confession, “You are the Christ, the son of the Living God” - and immediately afterwards, when Jesus began to explain the passion that was to come, Peter stops Him and says: “No, no Lord, not this”, and Jesus reproaches him (see Mt 16: 16-23). But Peter has matured a little and here he does not rebuke Jesus. He does not understand what Jesus is saying about eating His flesh and drinking His blood (see Jn 6:54-56), he does not understand, but he trusts the Master. He trusts Him. And he makes this second confession: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the message of eternal life” (see v. 68). This helps us, all of us, to live through moments of crisis. In my land there is a saying: “When you’re riding a horse and you have to cross a river, please, don’t change horses in the middle of the river”. In moments of crisis you need to be very steadfast in your convictions of faith. Those who left, changed horses, they sought another teacher who was not so “hard”, as they said to Him. Moments of crisis demand perseverance, silence; staying where we are, steadfast. It is not the moment to make changes. It is the moment of fidelity, of faithfulness to God, of faithfulness to the things [decisions] we had made before. It is also the moment of conversion, because this faithfulness will inspire some kind of change for the better, not to distance us from good. Moments of peace and moments of crisis. We Christians must learn to manage both. Both of them. A spiritual father said that going through a moment of crisis is like passing through fire so as to become strong. May the Lord send us the Holy Spirit so we may be able to resist the temptations of moments of crisis, to know how to be faithful to the first words, with the hope of living moments of peace later. Let us think of our crises: crises in the family, in our neighbourhood, at work, social crises throughout the world, in our country… so many crises, many crises. May the Lord give us the strength not to sell out our faith in moments of crisis. I Ame I G www.thedivinemercy.org/articles/fiveloaves-two-fish-philosophy Excerpt from Homily given by Pope Francis on May 2, 2020 https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/cotidie/2020/documents/papa-francesco-cotidie_20200502_lecrisioccasioni-diconversione.html Picture: https://www.thedivinemercy.org/articles/pope-francis-unique Coat of Arms: https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en.html
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