THE CHURCH BUILT ON THE ROCK OF FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST

SOLEMNITY OF SAINTS PETER AND PAUL

Reflection from Friar Nicholas Okeke, OP 

Acts 12:1-11; Ps 34:2-9; 2 Tim 4:6-8,17-18; Mt 16:13-19

On this Rock I will build my Church

We celebrate the solemnity of the apostles Peter and Paul. The celebration offers us an opportunity to reflect on their faith and the pivotal roles these great apostles played in establishing the Church. The meditation of their faith comes as a summary of the week-long reflection of the training of the spiritual man and the building of the spiritual house on the rock of profession of faith in the word of God. Peter’s confession of faith in the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ is the archetype of a Christian confession of faith in Jesus Christ. “When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi he put this question to his disciples, ‘Who do people say the Son of Man is?’ And they said, ‘Some say he is John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ ‘But you,’ he said ‘who do you say I am?’ This is the crux of the Christian life; namely, who Jesus Christ is for us. Closely related to this, is the question of what we make of the word of God. The defining feature of a Christian is his faith in the divinity of Jesus Christ. Without that belief, we are not Christians. We may also believe in our head, but fail to let the belief inform our thinking, words, and doings. When this is the case, we are, at best, nominal Christians.

To profess faith in the divinity of Jesus Christ, who took our human nature to save us from sin and death, is to start a new spiritual life. This profession of faith is the foundation of a spiritual life or house laid on the rock. As we said in the previous reflections, the same foundation is for the spiritual self and the Church because she is constituted by individuals who are spiritually united to the Eternal Word of God by their faith. “Then Simon Peter spoke up, ‘You are the Christ,’ he said ‘the Son of the living God.’ Jesus replied, ‘Simon son of Jonah, you are a happy man! Because it was not flesh and blood that revealed this to you but my Father in heaven. So I now say to you: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church. And the gates of the underworld can never hold out against it.” Here, Jesus makes it very clear that it was God who revealed or communicated the identity of Jesus Christ to Peter, and gave a corresponding faith to Peter with which he proclaimed what he believed in his heart. The attack of the forces of hell who use the vicissitudes of the material world to attack us cannot topple a Christian life and the Church built on the firm foundation of faith in Jesus Christ. An example of such attacks is King Herod’s persecution of the apostolic Church and imprisonment of Peter. The Church offered faithful prayers to God who sent his angel to come and deliver Peter from Herod’s threat. As far as the Church continues faithful to the Gospel message, the threats and attacks of gates of hell would only aid the spread of the kingdom of God among men and not diminish or destroy the Church. Only our lack of faith diminishes the Church in the world.

St. Paul is put before us as an apostle of excellent faith. Nothing could break or diminish his faith in Jesus Christ after he came to the knowledge of the Gospel message. Every attack he experienced was an opportunity to preach or spread the Gospel message and win souls from the grasp of powers of darkness. Following the example of our Lord Jesus Christ in his humanity, he made an offering of his mortal life for the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ for the love of him who loved us and died on the cross for our salvation. It is in this offering of our mortal life that our spiritual life becomes fruitful and consolidated in Jesus Christ. “My life is already being poured away as a libation, and the time has come for me to be gone. I have fought the good fight to the end; I have run the race to the finish; I have kept the faith; all there is to come now is the crown of righteousness reserved for me, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that Day.” The faith of these great apostles that endured till the end constitutes the foundation of the apostolic Church. We are called to celebrate and imitate their faith in Jesus Christ. Our faithful Lord who rewarded their constancy in the faith will reward our faith if we sow our life and build a spiritual life on the rock that is the word of God. We must remember that the spiritual house or man is built by God himself. We are called to remain faithful to his word and walk in his presence as these great apostles did. May their prayers help us to overcome every obstacle to faith in our lives.

Let us pray: O God, who on the Solemnity of the Apostles Peter and Paul give us the noble and holy joy of this day, grant, we pray, that your Church may in all things follow the teaching of those through whom she received the beginnings of right religion.