Just like John the Baptist prepared the way for men to meet Christ, Saint Peter showed us the way of growing in our faith to reach God’s glory. Christ left us His Church, and Saint Peter was the first head of Christ’s Church.
At first Peter was always strong, impetuous and brash. But, at the same time, his faith was weak in the face of difficulty. He was always the first to say the right thing and the wrong thing almost at the same time. Peter was able to recognize Jesus as God and in His presence, he was moved immediately to recognize himself as a sinner.
When Jesus asked the Apostles “who do you say that I am” (Matthew 16:15) Peter got it right, immediately responding that He was the Messiah. So then Jesus establishes him as the first Pope. But right after that, Peter tries to prevent Jesus’ Passion and the first Pope gets scolded. And what a scolding! “Depart from Me, Satan” (Matthew 15: 23). Later, during Jesus trials, Peter denied his Master. But he repented and wept bitterly.
In his second letter Saint Peter seems to have a complete turn from his impetuous ways and writes: “make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, virtue with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with devotion, devotion with mutual affection, mutual affection with love” (2 Peter 1: 5-7). The impetuous Peter tells us now to have self-control, endurance, etc.
As a matter of fact, this seems to be his own path to salvation when he reflects further: “Anyone who lacks them is blind and shortsighted, forgetful of the cleansing of his past sins.” And then he exhorts us to make our “election firm, for, in doing so, you will never stumble” and enter God’s glory.
And this flawed man was able to be the head of God’s Church. And this flawed man was able to perform many miracles, like driving out demons and curing the paralytic, even reviving a young girl!
It goes without saying, then, that we may also be like Peter, weak in the faith when difficulty arises, brash and impetuous. Would we recognize Jesus if he called our name? Could we fall to our knees, declaring: “depart from me for I am a sinner”? Having denied Him, could we leave pride aside and weep bitterly for the pain we cause Him?
Let’s follow Peter’s path to salvation and turn our hard, brash and impetuous heart into a virtuous, knowledgeable, self-controlled, enduring, devoted, affectionate and loving heart.
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