Pastor's Corner #209
August 27, 2023
In the Gospel, Jesus has questions to which He already knows the answer. H is not asking these questions for Himself, but He is asking for His disciples, the Apostles then, and you and me today. The first question He asks is a set-up. He doesn’t care what others say about Him; instead, He wants to get them thinking about the real question. He wants to know what you and I believe He truly is. Although Jesus knows what’s in our hearts, He wants His disciples to answer for themselves: Who do you say that I am? Peter is the first to speak and is divinely inspired to confess with his heart that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God! Do we believe this also?
What does it mean to confess that Jesus is the Son of the Living God? The best way of answering that question is by examining what Jesus is not. First, if Jesus is the Son of the Living God, then there can be no doubt that Jesus is truly God, the one God, and the only God. As the Incarnate and eternal Son, Jesus is consubstantial with the Father, meaning He and the Father are one. Second, Jesus is more than just another teacher or spiritual guru, among many others. If He is the Son of the Living God, He is the only way, the only Truth, and the only Life to salvation. Anything else is partial, incomplete, or false. Third, if Jesus is the Son of the Living God, then the rock of Peter’s confession of faith on which Jesus founded His Church is none other than the Catholic Church. Through Peter and his successors, the Church possesses the keys of salvation to unlock the gates of heaven for souls, and there can be no shadow of doubt about who the Catholic Church is and what the Church professes.
At the Easter Vigil, candidates for full communion with the Catholic profess, “I believe and profess all that the Catholic Church teaches, believes, and proclaims to be revealed by God.” Are you willing to stand on the street corner to profess this publicly? In his book, Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis wrote, “The only reason to believe something is because it is true.” If Jesus Christ isn’t the Son of the living God, then we have a problem. As a bold and authentic Catholic, centered and sourced on the Sunday Eucharist, and invested in the mission for the salvation of souls, how you answer the question of Jesus, who do you say that I am is essential. You cannot answer it just in words; it must be lived and professed in how you live out your life. I once heard it preached that nominal Catholics give the Church a bad name. This is so true. If Jesus is the Son of the Living God and He built His Church on the rock of Peter’s confession of faith, then your life and mine must reflect this truth.
I challenge each of us to be bold and authentic in professing by our lives that Jesus is the Son of the Living God. Not only that but be ready to tell someone else about Jesus. We should be ashamed or back down in wanting to share with others why we need Jesus and why they need Jesus, too. Take them to Holy Mass or Adoration to bring them to Jesus. Like our patron, St. John the Baptist, you must prepare a way for yourself and others to Jesus. It is just that simple.
Fr. John Marshall
Pastor
