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I have had the privilege of being a high school chaplain for eight years. It was not the assignment that I imagined having when I was ordained a priest, but I have found such great joy in serving God in this capacity.

One of the gifts of being in the high school setting and teaching is the unique opportunity to see students grow in all areas of knowledge. Often, students will enter their freshmen year with interest to learn. Then, by sophomore year, they are convinced that they know everything. Often, during junior or senior year, the students rediscover the importance of applying themselves to the great joy of learning.

There are, however, those sad moments when I see a student who has decided that he or she knows everything necessary for life and his or her spiritual well-being. At this point, they are done learning. When they are convinced that they know it all, their wills shut down and they cease to grow, discover or better themselves. And sadly, this same thing can happen in our spiritual lives.

In the letter to the Romans we hear at Mass on the 22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, Paul writes, “Do not conform yourselves to this age, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that you may discern what is the will of God …” Paul was writing this to people who already had been baptized and were trying to live the Catholic life. They were, in a certain sense, already “enrolled” in school. However, Paul detected in them that they were growing stagnant in their spiritual lives. They were beginning to rely on their own power and forgetting that to live the life of a disciple of Jesus meant that they needed to foster and nurture their relationship with God every day. It is God who is perfect, and it was their continual task to conform their mind, soul and heart to the will of God. The danger, as Paul identifies, is when they stop the “renewal” of their mind, when they think they have reached perfection. And in the Gospel reading (Mt 16:21-27), we see why this is a danger.

Peter and the Apostles had the privilege of being close to Jesus, to be “insiders” to God’s messianic plan. Yes, they had left everything and followed Jesus; they were beginning the life of faith. But Peter fell victim to the temptation of thinking that he was perfected in his knowledge of God’s will. This is why, when Jesus revealed that the Messiah was to be crucified, Peter tried to correct Jesus, which received a divine rebuke of memorable magnitude. Jesus was forceful to Peter, not because he hated Peter, but because he loved Peter and wanted the best for Peter — namely to be aligned with the perfect will of the Father. And so it must be for us today.

Just as with Peter, we may be tempted to think that we have reached perfection in living the Catholic life: We follow the Ten Commandments, we attend Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation, we go to the sacrament of confession and contribute to our parish. It is at this moment we must listen to St. Paul and turn to the Lord in prayer asking: “In what way can I be conformed to your will even more? What am I still holding on to that is preventing me from being closer to you? What is it that I do not yet see in my life? What is standing in the way of me becoming a saint for you?”

When we ask these questions in prayer and humility, we open ourselves to the Holy Spirit even more to allow the grace of God into our lives, to allow us to conform ever more to the perfect will of God. Then, we will be even closer to the saints that God wills us to be.

Father Gjengdahl is chaplain of Holy Family Catholic High School in Victoria.

Sunday, Aug. 30
Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time