Sharon is a very committed, prayerful Catholic.  For 20 years, she prayed with priests and others in a charismatic healing ministry for sick people. 

Then, Sharon herself suddenly fell critically ill.  After two surgeries and months of hospital admissions, she is still fighting severe infections. All this led her to a recent panic attack, which she just could not handle.  A priest friend asked her, “Sharon, you have so much faith; you’ve prayed over so many people.  When you felt panic, were you comforted by knowing God is here with you?”  Sharon replied, “No. I was too overwhelmed to think of God.”

Have you ever felt this way?  Today, we see how overwhelmed Jesus’ apostles also were when Jesus revealed more of himself and his mission.  It must have been a bombshell to hear, “Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you.” This was too outrageous, too shocking, or just too confusing. So, some “turned back” to their old lives, and no longer followed Jesus. When something happens that destroys our way of understanding life—where do we go?  A loss, an illness, or a betrayal from one we love deeply… when the carpet gets pulled out from under us, nothing makes sense.

That is when we must do what St. Peter did.  He didn’t understand it rationally—but he went with his guts, his deep intuition. “Where else are we going to go? … We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the holy One of God.”  We have all “come to believe” through parents, the church, our life experience, that Jesus is the only One we can rely on. Let that conviction come from your heart—and from your gut.