It is so easy to look to the apostles for wisdom and understanding. Catholic children are often brought up with those well-known Bible stories where the apostles truly shine and present great examples of faith and trust in the Lord. Not many people choose to focus on the stories of when the apostles truly fell short of those grand expectations we all seem to have placed on them, just because they were the chosen apostles of Jesus Christ. This is the beauty of the Lord’s plan. He chose the lowest of the low from the society of His days on our earth. Why would He do this? For us! If Jesus had chosen highly esteemed people for His followers, we would be doomed to always fall short of God’s expectations. We would be faced with the fate of constantly striving to be the best because God only chose the best. God did not do this; He wanted to give us this hope and faith that every time we fall short, He would still love us for who we are, imperfections and all.
Jesus is calling us to strive and seek to be better, however. He taught His apostles so that through their imperfections, they could rise above their worldly selves and gain spiritual understanding. This Gospel reading is a perfect example of the Lord teaching His apostles and pushing them to achieve wisdom that surpasses the so-called wisdom of this world.
Why do you conclude that it is because you have no bread? Do you not yet understand or comprehend? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear?
—Mark 8:14–22
Jesus was calling His apostles to step outside the basic way of thinking (we might call it “thinking outside the box”). Whenever Jesus gave them a warning, they only interpreted it based on society’s expectations regarding actual bread. At that point, the apostles really did not understand what Jesus was saying, but they would come to understand. This is how Jesus works with us; He uses everything in our lives to teach us and is always asking us to dive deeper and to pose harder questions. Everything that happens is for a purpose, and if we pay attention, it will lead us to a spiritual understanding that is as great as, if not greater than, the understanding the apostles achieved after Christ’s death on the cross.
Frassati Reflections 
Thank you for your message of hope. Like the apostles, I often feel challenged in my attempts to be a faithful follower of Jesus. When cast down by my all too frequent failures in understand just what He requires of me, I should remember not to interpret His words too literally! And that He will forgive my lack of understanding as long as I keep trying to improve it!
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