Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time

"But who do you say that I am?" - Matthew 16:15

The second question only has your answer. Peter's was not reasoned out - it was received. Flesh and blood did not reveal this. The Father did. The knowing that comes from the inside, from the Father's own revealing, is different from information about Jesus. It changes over the long walk - becomes more earned, more tested, more weighted with what was asked of it.

Isaiah's peg in a sure spot is fixed for the household. Not for the peg's own benefit - as a seat of honor for the whole family. The woman whose faith is the peg that others hang weight on is the one in whom the revelation has taken root and held through the years of testing. The faith that survives the inscrutable judgment, the unanswered prayer, the loss that made no sense - that faith is a peg.

Paul's doxology is what the tested faith sounds like at the end of the argument: Oh the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! Not: I understand now. From him and through him and for him are all things. The depth of the riches is visible only after the journey, and the response is praise, not comprehension.

Sister, who do you say he is? Not the borrowed answer. What do you know from your own life - the specific knowing that no one else knows you have? That is the peg. That is the seat of honor for your household.

Who do you say he is - your answer, from your own life, in one sentence? Name it. Then ask: is the faith you have the kind that others in your household are resting on? Are you a peg in a sure spot for them?

Lord, reveal yourself to me the way you revealed yourself to Peter - not through flesh and blood but through the Father. Let me know you, not just know about you. And let whatever I know be something my household can hang its weight on. Fix me as a peg in a sure spot. Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us. Amen.