Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today, we celebrate the feast of St. Peter and Paul, two of the most outstanding witnesses to Jesus and his mission. We are blessed to have these great men to inspire us and move us to faithfulness on our journey with Jesus. It is a gift to know faithful people, people who have made mistakes and rose to heights of fidelity and people whose inner strength urges them to be faithful, even when it costs them much. Their lives tell us that faithfulness is possible, though not easy. Failures and mistakes may happen, but we can rise above the failures and mistakes and become more faithful. Both of these great men, Peter and Paul, give us amazing and outstanding example of what it means to fail, make mistakes and rise gain to greatness as followers of Jesus. They were faithful men who  knew what it meant to hang-in-there and do their best to fulfill their God-given mission in life.

Jesus and is disciples had gone up  north to the district of Tyre, to the gentile territories, and come back down to Galilee by way of Sidon, to a place called Caesarea Philippi (Mathew 16:13-19, today’s gospel reading). This would have been a long, roundabout, and tiresome journey for Jesus and his disciples. Without going into all the details of this journey, it would have taken over six months, on foot, to cover the regions mentioned. Jesus may have chosen this long and complicated route to give himself and his disciples quality time to get to know each other. Long journeys tend to give us opportunities to get to know each other at a more intimate, personal and deeper level.

Mathew tells us  that at the end of this journey, when they reached a place called Caesarea Philippi (Mathew 16:13-19, todays’ gospel reading), Jesus asked his disciples about what people thought about him. Some thought that he was John the Baptist and others, Jeremiah or one of the ancient prophets. Then he asked the crucial question, “who do you say that I am?” Peter was quick: “You are the Messiah” and Jesus was just as quick and spontaneous, “You are Peter.”

Jesus and Peter defined each other and affirmed each other in lasting relationship. Those of us who have known Jesus and walked with him for some time must still listen and keep responding to this two-thousand year old question, “Who do you say that I am?” We must answer this question as Peter did. Who is Jesus for you? 

To read more of this Sunday’s reflection, please click on the link below...