Imagine the scene…Jesus and his small group of friends, sitting around the fire talking and telling stories. Jesus, saddened over the recent arrest of John the Baptist asks his friends: “Who do people say that I am?” Jesus wasn’t having an identity crisis, but may have wanted to know: “What’s the word on the street?” Everyone started to chime in with what they’ve heard people saying. After several rounds, Jesus pauses the conversation and turns it around. “But who do YOU say that I am?”
Suddenly, silence. The only sound was the crackling of the tinder on the fire and the quickened breathing of Jesus’ friends. In the midst of the awkward silence, Simon-Peter boldly and confidently proclaims: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” In an equally bold move, Jesus calls Simon and declares that his name, from here on, is Peter, meaning “rock,” and that on this “rock” (Peter), He will build his church.
From that moment on, Peter was entrusted with a very weighty mission that would change his life forever and that would impact generations to come. Along with the mission came the grace to complete it, even with all the human error and sin that was part of the equation.
What name does God call you by today? What is the mission to which you are called? What is the grace you need to see it through? Imagine….
Sr. Michele Vincent Fisher, CSFN
