Jesus asks Peter, “Who do you say I am?” and Peter, in his response, reveals that Jesus is the Christ. In return, Jesus reveals who Peter will be by giving him a new name, “rock”.
In Psalm 95, we see that this is the name of Godself. On this rock, the Lord will build his Church. The word that is used here, “rock”, is only used again in Matthew 18:17. It corresponds to the assembly of God’s people, “qahal”, under Moses in the desert in the book of Exodus (16:2). Peter was to be the new “qahal” as Moses was to the people of God in the desert.
This text has an interesting relationship that we might reflect on today. When we come to know God, we come to know ourselves better. In her book, The Interior Castle, St. Teresa of Avila writes, “...it seems to me that we will never know ourselves unless we seek to know God”. This seeking to know God is what she refers to as entering into the interior castle, her metaphor
for the soul, at whose centre is the divine light of God.
Teresa explains that seeking after God is the only way to know the self but that the path to knowing God is that of self-knowledge.
In the exchange between Jesus and Peter, we see how, when Peter has a deeper understanding of who Jesus is, his own identity and mission are revealed to him by Jesus. God-knowledge leads to deeper self-knowledge.
The same will be true in our lives. The more we seek the Lord, the more we
will know ourselves. Often, in the silence of prayer, our knowledge of ourselves and God will be deepened.
St. Teresa goes on to say that there will be significant challenges as we journey along the path of self-knowledge and God-knowledge. However, she notes that making the journey will also be a source of tremendous
blessings that far exceed the tribulations that necessarily go along with it.
Peter will discover this, too. There will be many trials and tribulations ahead, and yet, we know from the Acts of the Apostles that Peter, in the end, will have it no other way. He will be ready to lose his life for Jesus, the one he calls “The
Christ, Son of the living God.”
Take time today to notice how in your own life you have grown in self-knowledge as you grow in God-knowledge. What insights have you gained by seeking the Lord more intimately and facing the reality of who you are before the Lord?
Reflections by Fr Russell Pollitt SJ
