Today's Gospel is so familiar but yet every time i hear or read it, I am confronted by the same question Jesus asked his disciples. After 67 years as a Catholic , I know the answer in my head: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” But i think Jesus is asking me for more than just the answer. If I truly believe He is the Christ, then what is my response to Him? That is what troubles me at times. When I stand before Jesus with everything I have been given and everything I know, I recognize that my response has not always matched my profession of faith. I still rely upon myself. I try to control and fix things. Because of my weaknesses and wounds, I sometimes keep Jesus at a distance instead of surrendering myself to Him. Yet even in my need for healing and in my sins, I know that I am loved by Him—a beloved son, wounds and all. I think of St. Peter. Here was in many ways not the "ideal" candidate to be leader of Christs Church. He was impulsive and brash. He not only ran from Christ by actually denied Him. But, yet, God chose to reveal to him that Jesus is the Christ. I am helped by this gospel knowing that Jesus had the same amount of love and mercy for Peter in his failure and when he eventually died a martyrs death. Jesus already knows both my faith and my weakness, and still asks me to follow Him. So I continue to ask Jesus to help me in my struggles. I know He is the Christ , but I still struggle to give myself completely to Him. I ask Him to help me receive His love He has for me. I pray He heals what holds me back, and can lead me to the loving Father with all my heart Gospel Matthew 16:13-20 Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi and he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" They replied, "Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter said in reply, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus said to him in reply, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Then he strictly ordered his disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.
