REFLECTION:

I have said this before: one of the skills that my staff, and anyone who works or volunteers in the parish, eventually needs to develop is the ability to “read the pastor’s mind.”

I know that sounds terrible! But sometimes I walk into a room, look around, and I am thinking, “Okay…does anybody else see what I see?” And after working with me long enough, hopefully someone will eventually say, “Oh, Father is not going to like that.” Or even better, “We already took care of it because we knew you were going to ask.” Now that is when I know we are making progress!

Of course, I say that jokingly, but there is actually something spiritual behind it. Because Saint Paul tells us today, “We have the mind of Christ.”

In a sense, the Christian life is about learning to read the mind of Christ. If we are going to follow Jesus, we have to spend enough time with him that we begin to know how he thinks. What matters to him? How would he respond? What would he choose?

It is like someone you have known for years. Sometimes you do not even have to ask what they are thinking. You already know. You can look across the room at your spouse, your best friend, or your coworker and just from one look you know exactly what they are thinking. Sometimes that is a beautiful thing. Sometimes that look means, “We are going to talk about this when we get home!”

Our relationship with Jesus should become something like that.

And today's Gospel gives us an interesting twist. The demon actually knows who Jesus is. It says, “I know who you are, the Holy One of God!” That is the correct answer! If this were a religion exam, technically, the demon gets that question right. But Jesus says, “Be quiet!”

And remember Sunday's Gospel. Peter also gets the answer right. He knows Jesus is the Christ. But when Jesus starts talking about suffering and the Cross, Peter says, basically, “No, no, Jesus. That's not how we're going to do this.” And Jesus tells him, “Get behind me, Satan!”

So apparently, getting the right answer does not always mean you understand Jesus.

The demon knew who Jesus was, but it did not have the mind of Christ. Peter knew who Jesus was, but at that moment, he was not thinking with the mind of Christ.

And maybe that is the challenge for us today. We can know our prayers. We can know Scripture. We can come to Mass every day. We can know all the right Catholic answers. But the real question is: Are we beginning to think like Jesus?

When somebody annoys me, how would Jesus respond? When I hear gossip, what would Jesus do? When I have to make a difficult decision, am I thinking only about what I want, or am I beginning to think with the mind of Christ?

So yes, I would love my staff to get better at reading the pastor's mind. But the pastor, the staff, and all of us have something much more important to learn: Spend enough time with Jesus that eventually we begin to know his mind, recognize his heart, and live the way he would live.