Readings: Jer. 31:31-34; Ps. 51; Matt. 16:13-23
Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia
HOW CAN YOU DESCRIBE YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE LORD JESUS?
As social beings, we often make friends who we can confide in and entrust with our innermost thoughts and plans. But the friendship does not come automatically. There is always a moment when one will want to know if his or her friends can really be trusted if they truly know and understand who we are and what we represent.
This is the situation between Jesus and his disciples in our Gospel passage today, when Jesus asked them saying: Who do people say the Son of Man is? And they said, ‘Some say he is John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ ‘But you,’ he said ‘who do you say I am?’ Then Simon Peter spoke up, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ Jesus replied, ‘Simon son of Jonah, you are a happy man! Because it was not flesh and blood that revealed this to you but my Father in heaven. So I now say to you: You are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my Church. And the gates of the underworld can never hold out against it.
Here, we see how Peter expressed his conviction about who Jesus is. He did not have to quote any authority, because his response was a clear and sincere knowledge of who he professed Jesus to be. Hence, Jesus stressed that Peter’s faith was a gift from the Father when he said: “Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.
This is because Peter’s gift of faith comes from his personal response to Jesus. Thus, our faith requires that we give a personal answer to the question: who is Jesus to me personally? For it is not enough to quote the teachings and Catechism of the Church about our faith or the teachings of other theologians and preachers or to respond only from the head but from the heart that is convinced of what it believes in.
Today most people are following Jesus without knowing who Jesus truly represents. Some people find it very difficult to embrace the teachings of Jesus because they lack faith and conviction about his personality, even when Jesus has revealed himself to us through his great miracles and teachings. The fact is that Jesus wants us to develop a divine way of looking at things; he wants us to know him deep down in our souls so that we can profess our faith with deeper meaning and conviction.
This is why he told Simon, you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my Church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” This seems to be the fulfilment of the prophecy and promises in our first reading today when the Lord said: Deep within them I will plant my Law, writing it on their hearts. Then I will be their God and they shall be my people. There will be no further need for neighbour to try to teach neighbour, or brother to say to brother, ‘Learn to know the Lord!’ No, they will all know me, the least no less than the greatest since I will forgive their iniquity and never call their sin to mind.
Dear friends, having heard the teachings and works of Jesus in the scriptures and traditions of the Church, the question remains: who is Jesus to you? What is your personal experience and conviction about the identity of Jesus? How has your knowledge of Jesus helped other people to come to faith in Jesus? Today we are called to really examine our conscience to know where we are with regards to our faith as Christians.
We are called today to develop a divine way of understanding the mysteries of God, just like St. Dominic whose memorial we celebrate today. Through his personal experience of God, he has helped the faithful to renew their faith and commitment in God and their society through the deepening of their spiritual lives, especially through the use of the rosary as a prayer, which eventually became one of the most popular of all devotions in the Church, through which countless souls have been converted to the Lord, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
LET US PRAY: Heavenly Father, you revealed to St. Peter the true identity of Jesus, your son; help us to profess our faith with deeper meaning and conviction. And as we experience the power of your presence, may we embrace more deeply your sacred mysteries. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Remain blessed.
