There is a common theme running through these readings. It is about a radical change of heart; about becoming a "new man"; about having "the mind of Christ" and living according to His values, values that are diametrically opposed to the values of the world.

Christ will never countenance cosmetic changes. He demands a change of heart (metanoia).

Romano Guardini points out that in the Gospels, Jesus is "razing all that the world calls great, in order to erect authentic greatness. In all Jesus says and does, stalks the disturbing and antagonizing demand for a general revaluation." Are we ready to evaluate our personal viewpoints and value system? "You (Peter) look at things from man's point of view, and not from God's" (Mt. 16:24).

Both Jeremiah and Peter are faced with the mystery of the cross; and, as we all do, they resist it. And Christ insists that the cross alone will "help us to become our true selves - free, joyful, other-centred."

What is demanded of us, says Karl Rahner, is the "transformation and renewal of the whole man on the model of Christ."