The second prophecy of the passion

The Gospel today is from Luke (9: 43-45) in which Jesus reminds his disciples that ‘the Son of Man is going to be handed over into the power of men’.

Today’s reflection is titled ‘The second prophecy of the Passion’ because, in this Gospel, Jesus again reminds the disciples that the first thing that has to happen is that he has to suffer. This is second of three prophecies in relation to our Lord’s Passion, to his arrest, torture, death and Resurrection.

Jesus is just about to start his journey to Jerusalem. He is about to start his journey to his passion, death and Resurrection and the disciples fail to understand the significance of what is about to happen.

So for our prayer today, Fr Paul says, we might ask ourselves ‘Do we understand that suffering for our faith is part of being Christian?’