The Gospel According to Matthew (16:13-23)
Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi and he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
Then he strictly ordered his disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.
From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised. Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him, “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.” He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”
Reflection:
No doubt that God exalts the humble and humbles those who try to prevail against God’s will. In my opinion, this passage best exemplifies this aspect of God. One moment Jesus is praising Simon for speaking the truth as revealed to him by the Heavenly Father, the next Jesus is tossing Peter behind for saying exactly what all of us say almost every time we are in a crucible between doing God’s will and what the world would expect us to do.
In those moments when we face a moral choice between doing God’s will and acting as the world would have us, many of us may say that we do not hear God either praising us or condemning us. However, that is when we are wrong; that only shows that we are not really listening to Him. God is always speaking to us. Particularly in and through our conscience.
Conscience is the God-given gift to humans to guide our lives when making important choices. Conscience, when properly informed and formed by the will of God, will always keep us in dialogue with God. Through our conscience God is always lifting us high or bringing us down. When fully informed and formed by the Word of God, that inner voice is making us feel great about our thoughts and actions, or miserable (or at least uncomfortable).
When we really pay attention to God, our conscience will always let us know if we are as close to him as humanly possible while on earth, or left behind; whether we are blessed or cursed; whether we are partaking of heaven or hell.
Most of us know God’s will. The question is, are we going to help him foster the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth or are we going to be an impediment? It has always been up to us, even now!
Action of the Day.
We are faced with moral choices every day. Whether these may be of limited consequence or robbing you of your inner peace for their tremendous weight on your life or in the lives of those you love. In any case, it is important that we always make informed decisions so we can be clearly guided by God.
Practice forming your conscience as often as possible and you will hear God speaking. Hopefully you will often hear Him lift you up with praises. But do not be afraid to be rebuked from time to time. After all, we are only human.
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