In this weekend’s passage of the Holy Gospel, we hear what many believe to be the most important recorded question in all of Sacred Scripture. Jesus asks Peter, “Who do you say that I am?” This is a question for the ages! It’s a question that each of us should be answering frequently in our lives. Be assured that if any of us answers this question the same way today as the day we made our first communion (!), then we definitely haven’t made much progress in our spiritual life. Our challenge as a Christian is to come to know Jesus better and better with the passing of time. And remember, there is a big difference between “knowing about” a person and “knowing” a person. Jesus desires nothing more than we come to know him. And, as we do move toward knowing Him, then our lives will definitely change for the good because we will be affected by the love and compassion we see in Jesus. Secondly in this Gospel passage, we hear about Jesus appointing Peter as the first “head of the church.” We might call this Sunday “Power Sunday” because Jesus hands over of the “keys which open and shut,” representing authority in the Church and in the kingdom. Here, Jesus reveals his plan to build his Church on the strong bedrock foundation of Peter, to whom He then gave the keys of teaching and governing authority in the Church. For the first time in their relationship Peter, speaking for the other disciples, declared publicly: “You are the Christ (Messiah), the Son of the living God.” Peter was the first apostle to recognize Jesus publicly as the Messiah or Christ. Christ is the Greek word for the Hebrew word Messiah. It is evident that Jesus was well pleased with Peter’s answer. However, Jesus was quick to explain to the disciples that he was not a political messiah. Instead, He was a messiah who would suffer, die and be raised to life again. Who is Jesus for you? Can you sincerely declare that He is YOUR personal Savior? The knowledge of Jesus as Lord and personal Savior should become a living, personal experience for each of us. How do we do this? We do this by opening up our hearts as we hear the Scriptures read to us…we do this by receiving Jesus in the Eucharist…we do this by modeling our lives after Jesus, the great Person of service and compassion! In his book, Pray from Where You Are, James Carroll recalls something many of us remember from our childhood. Every Sunday, the comic page of our newspapers used to carry a series of printed games. One of everybody’s favorites was a picture showing some scene, like a family enjoying a picnic in a park. Printed beneath the picture were the words, “Can you find the man hidden in the picture?” You’d look and look, and at first wouldn’t see anything that looked like a man. Then you’d turn the paper this way and that to get a different view of it. Suddenly, from the edge of a fluffy white cloud you’d see an ear. Then, from the green leaves of a tree you’d see a mouth, and so on, until you’d see an entire man’s face smiling out at you from the picnic scene. Once you saw the man, that picnic scene was never the same again. For you had found the hidden man. You yourself had seen the smiling face. It’s the same way in our own lives. We Christians know by faith that there is a man hidden away in every scene of daily life. And that man’s name is Jesus. Once we find him, up close and personal, no scene in our lives is ever the same. That is part of the message of today’s Gospel. GOSPEL QUESTION FOR THE WEEK: Can both your heart and your mind acknowledge Jesus as your Savior?