Recounting the Gospel of today's liturgy when Jesus asks his disciples, “But who do you say that I am?" Pope Francis recalled how Peter answered the Lord, saying "You are the Christ." He answered perfectly, the Pope observed, but moments later when Jesus speaks about the suffering and death He must suffer, Peter objects to it and the Lord strongly rebukes him, saying, “Get behind me, Satan, for you are not on the side of God, but of men.” While Peter answered correctly before, his way of thinking was still that of "men," the Pope explained, as he he wanted a strong and victorious Messiah, one who cannot suffer and die.

Truly knowing Jesus

We also can find ourselves in the same position, the Pope pointed out, as we can also understand something about the Lord and respond correctly, but our mindset remains worldy, still in need of conversion to be open to God's ways and our call to follow Him. So we may know Church doctrine, say our prayers correctly, and be familiar with the catechism, the Pope explained, but we still need to better know the Lord, more than just something about Him. He said this means following the Lord and letting our hearts and minds be touched and transformed by His Gospel.

The Pope underscored the importance of our relationship and encounter with the Lord in order to know Him. He said this encounter is what changes your life: the way you are, the way you think, the relationships you have with your brothers and sisters, the readiness to accept and forgive, the choices you make in life. 

“Everything changes if you have truly come to know Jesus! Everything changes.”

Who is Jesus for me?

In concluson, the Pope recalled the witness of Lutheran theologian and pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a victim of Nazism, who wrote in his Letters and Papers from Prison about the role of Christianity in the world and the need to ask ourselves who Christ really is for us today. He lamented how many no longer ask themselves this fundamental question, so important for coming to know and follow the Lord.

The Pope said we also would do well to ask ourselves who Jesus is in our own lives, and whether we follow Him only in word or if we are really open to a personal encounter with the Lord who can transform our lives. The Pope prayed that the Blessed Mother may help us in this effort.