“The Gospel lives in conversation with the culture, and if the Church holds back from the culture, the Gospel itself falls silent.”

“When Christ at a symbolic moment was establishing His great society, He chose for its cornerstone neither the brilliant Paul nor the mystic John, but a shuffler, a snob, a coward – in a word, a man. And upon this rock He has built His Church, and the gates of Hell have not prevailed against it. All the empires and the kingdoms have failed, because of this inherent and continual weakness, that they were founded by strong men and upon strong men. But this one thing, the historic Christian Church, was founded on a weak man, and for that reason it is indestructible. For no chain is stronger than its weakest link.” ― G.K. Chesterton, Heretics

Gospel Text: (MT 16:13-19)

When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi
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." 

“You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”  Life would never be the same for Peter after this moment.  To be sure, there would be hardships;  there would be ups and downs;  there would be sin and forgiveness; there would be everything that constitutes a fully human life for Peter.  Life, however, would always be, from this moment on,  wholesome and happy.  He had made the journey up the mountain and had seen the Holy Man – the Messiah – and life would be forever changed.