“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Dear friends in Christ,

The Gospel this morning takes me back to my Holy Land pilgrimage earlier this year. As many of you know I was blessed to have been able to take part in a 9 week pilgrimage to the Holy Land with my seminary class at the beginning of this year, and luckily for us our trip wasn’t impacted by Covid in a major way. One of the many places we visited was the site where today’s Gospel took place in Caesarea Philippi. This place was outside of the Jewish territory, and the very spot was in fact at a pagan Roman temple. Jesus and his disciples traveled a bit away from their native Galilee to get there. What we saw there was the ruins of the giant pagan temple to the god Pan which includes a large cave from which water flows. I’d like to tell you that I spent my time here meditating on today’s Gospel reading but in truth I was more focused on getting an ice cream cone and cracking jokes with my friends. 

But in reflecting on this reading from Saint Matthew I was brought back to this place. In this gospel passage so many of the important truths of our faith are laid out for us. When asked by Jesus “who am I? Peter responds “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Peter is not saying Jesus is the son of just any god, remember they are standing before a pagan temple here, but the one Living and True God. Jesus says to Peter “flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.” This is not something Peter could have come to learn from studying arithmetic, literature, or Greek philosophy. It is not something he remembered from school. It is made known to him by divine revelation. It is fitting that this fact, that Jesus Christ is the son of God, as we would articulate now the 2nd person of the Holy Trinity, is revealed by Peter. Peter as Christ tells us is the rock on which he builds his Church. That church is the One Holy Catholic and Aposolic Church. Peter is set apart for a special role among the 12 Apostles. This special role is carried on today by Pope Francis. Francis is the bishop of Rome, but like Peter, he is set apart for a special role among the bishops of the world. When Christ says that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church. He is telling us that no matter what, evil will not prevail. The Church will not be taken over by the powers of the evil one. While there may be times when things look bleak, we must have faith and remember what Christ himself told us.

So today’s Gospel laid out some deep and foundational teachings for us. So what? Why does any of this matter? Well, if our God was like the abstract, disinterested, impersonal god Pan of the temple in Caesarea Philippi, then I would say it doesn’t really mean all that much. But as you know, that is not the case. Our God is one who walked our walk, talked our talk, and died our death. He then rose from the dead. Our God is one who is love itself. And it is because of his love for us, that he founded the Church, the Catholic Church. It is because of his love he gave us the gift of his Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in the Holy Eucharist. 

So after receiving Holy Communion today, take just a few moments to reflect on all of this. On the mystery of the Church, and of our Loving and True God. Take a moment to give Him thanks for revealing himself to us. For as Saint Pauls says “To him be glory forever. Amen.”