A crucial question

Peter’s faith

The Church of Christ

CAESAREA Philippi is located in northern Israel, near the source of the Jordan River. On one of his journeys, Jesus went with the apostles to this region. Our Lord took advantage of the quieter moments along the way to guide the hearts of his disciples with his words. He explained parables they hadn’t understood and answered their questions and concerns. It’s easy to imagine them discussing the events they had experienced, the miracles and extraordinary signs they had witnessed. After so many months together, the apostles were forming an increasingly clearer picture of Him. In our Lord’s company, their hearts sought certainty, definitive answers.

In this atmosphere, upon arriving in Caesarea, Jesus steered the conversation toward this question: “Who do men say that the Son of Man is?” (Mt 16:13). They responded with what was being discussed in the small groups that formed after his preaching: that He was an ancient prophet or even John the Baptist, who had risen from the dead. The people seemed to view Him as a religious figure, one more in the long list of men of God. But in reality, our Lord was not so much interested in what was being said about him as in what they, his friends, believed in their hearts. Therefore, immediately afterward, addressing the twelve personally, He asked, “But who do you say that I am?” (Mt 16:15).

This is the crucial question we can hear again in our hearts today. More than two thousand years have gone by, and Jesus continues to pose it to each of us who are his disciples: “But who do you say that I am?” It is a question that doesn’t demand an answer learned from books, but rather a personal one, born from the experience of those who closely follow our Lord. Leo XIV, in his first homily after being elected Pope, said that today there is no shortage of settings “in which Jesus, although appreciated as a man, is reduced to a kind of charismatic leader or superman. This is true not only among non-believers but also among many baptized Christians.”^[1] Hence each encounter with Christ invites us to purify our vision a little more and to renew, from within, our faith in who Jesus truly is for us.

AFTER HEARING Jesus’ question, Peter spoke up on behalf of everyone and answered: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (Mt 16:16). Since that day, the Church continues to repeat that profession of faith century after century. “We too wish to proclaim this today with deep conviction: ‘Yes, Jesus, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God!’ We do so with the awareness that Christ is the true ‘treasure’ for whom it is worthwhile sacrificing everything; he is the friend who never abandons us, for he knows the deepest longings of our hearts. Jesus is the ‘Son of the living God,’ the promised Messiah who came down to earth to offer humanity salvation and to satisfy the thirst for life and love that every human being feels.”^[2]

Peter’s response stems not only from his intelligence or his long association with the Master. Jesus himself reveals to him that this profession of faith, in which Peter affirms Christ’s divinity, has a higher origin: “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven” (Mt 16:17). And our Lord uses this expression of his faith to confirm Peter in his mission: “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 16:18).

Peter’s faith, like ours, is a divine gift. It is not the result of mere intellectual effort, although it also engages our reason. God is the one who takes the initiative. He opens the doors of his intimacy and invites us to share in his Life. Therefore, faith does not consist only in accepting valuable information about Jesus, but in entering into a personal relationship with Him, in adhering to his Person with our whole life. “Thus Jesus’ question, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ is ultimately a challenge to the disciples to make a personal decision in his regard. Faith in Christ and following Him are closely interconnected. And since faith involves following the Master, it must become constantly stronger, deeper and more mature, to the extent that it leads to a closer and more intense relationship with Jesus. Peter and the other disciples also had to grow in this way, until their encounter with the Risen Lord opened their eyes to the fullness of faith.”^[3]

IN THE CONTEXT of this conversation, Jesus speaks about the Church. He compares it to a building in which Peter—and, with him, the other apostles—has an irreplaceable role as the visible foundation, because he receives from God the power to bind and loose on earth and in heaven. Our Lord wants to build his Church on the rock of these men’s faith. At first sight, it doesn’t seem a sufficiently solid foundation; but God has willed that it be such. But the Church is not a merely human institution, like so many others: it is and remains Christ’s. Assisted from its very beginning by God, One and Triune, it does not live by itself or for itself. Just as the head cannot be separated from the body, neither can Christ be separated from the Church.

Jesus refers to it as “my Church.” The Church belongs to Jesus, not to us. Its origin is not in a decision made by Peter or his companions. Although they are indispensable pillars, it is God who founded it and sustains it throughout time. It receives its life from Christ, who nourishes and strengthens it. It is not the Church of a particular Pope or group of people; nor does it belong to a specific ideological current or territory. It is the Church of all peoples, a Church that does not identify exclusively with any nation or culture.

“The Church is you,” St. Josemaría said, “and it is me, and it is the one who is next to me… We are all Church.”^[4] We who are disciples of Jesus walk together, in the communion of his Church, following in Christ’s footsteps. “This is what the Church is: Christ present in our midst, God coming toward mankind in order to save us, calling us with his revelation, sanctifying us with his grace, sustaining us with his constant help, in the great and small battles of our daily life.”^[5] We can ask the Virgin Mary for a faith like Peter’s, so that all of us in the Church may bear witness that Christ is the Savior of all mankind and the living source of our hope.

^[1] Leo XIV, Homily, 9 May 2025.

^[2] Benedict XVI, Angelus, 24 August 2008.

^[3] Benedict XVI, Homily, 21 August 2011.

^[4] St. Josemaría, Notes from a get-together (1972).

^[5] St. Josemaría, Christ Is Passing By, no. 131.