DAILY DEVOTIONAL

Friday, July 20, 2018

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”  And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church … – Matthew 16:13-18a

“Who do people think I am in this mission I take?”

“Some say, He is John the Baptist returned from the dead!  Others say, He is the Elijah is to return to herald in the new age.  Others say, He is Jeremiah, the prophet who warns and then weeps for the people will not listen that their ways are leading to their destruction.  Others say, He is either merely another prophet or finally a true prophet, a reader of the times we find ourselves and how God wants us to respond to them.”

“But who do you think I am Simon Peter?”

“Well, Rabbi, I believe You are the One who comes to save us, the Messiah, the Christ.”

“Heaven has revealed this truth to you, Peter.  And it is this very understanding upon which the Church shall be built — this perception of me as the Christ.”

The essence of Church is to behold Christ, to behold Christ as He was and is, to behold Christ in the spirit of the lessons He taught, to behold Christ in the mission that we now carry on, to behold Christ with clarity and four-dimensionally without the filters of our cultural prejudice.

When you look long and deep into the life, person, work of Christ … who is the person you behold?

Sadly, too many church-goers know Christ as but a passing acquaintance.  Sadly, too many churchgoers see Christ through a lens of culture to which we do not realize exist for we have become far too accustomed to their presence.

In Christ’s Service Always,

Fr. Charity de la Cruz