When we reflect on this particular Gospel scene, we tend to focus on Peter’s confession of faith and the Lord’s response to it. But I think there is something interesting at the very beginning—when the Lord asks his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” What is the word on the street?
The disciples offer various answers. But, in a way, I believe this part of the Gospel serves as a warning: do not listen to the crowd. There are many opinions out there, and most of them are wrong. Faith is not something determined by opinion or consensus. It is not shaped by the majority view or the prevailing cultural sentiment. Rather, faith is something revealed directly by God. That is what the Church teaches us. She calls faith an infused virtue—“infused” meaning that it must be given by God. He places it directly into the minds and hearts of the faithful.
God is the one who reveals the faith. So when Peter confesses, “You are the Christ,” the Lord affirms him: “My heavenly Father told you this.” The same is true for all of us. Our heavenly Father tells us that Jesus is the Christ. He tells us every aspect of the faith that is authentic and true. He gives it to us so that we might believe it. And that is something we must never forget: the faith is revealed by God to each human heart individually.
Too often, I think we reach out for the crowd. Now, we may not be conducting polls to see what is popular and believing that, but we do grasp for random things—random authors, random YouTube videos, podcasts, whatever it may be. We collect these sources and convince ourselves that this is the faith.
But it is not. We cannot simply believe whatever we hear. At the end of the day, we must turn to God in prayer and allow him to reveal the faith to us. Those other sources can help prepare our hearts—they can ready the soil, so to speak—but they are not the faith. And sometimes, they even lead us astray. Not always intentionally—some people are simply mistaken despite good intentions.
That is why a life of prayer is so essential. We must continually turn to God and ask him, “Is this the truth? Is this what You are revealing to me? Help me to know what is true.” We must pray, “Do not let me fall into the trap of listening to the crowd and its countless opinions. Tell me what is true, so I may always stay on the right path.”
So let us not make the mistake of listening to the crowds and accepting everything we hear uncritically, even from good sources. Instead, let us always turn to our heavenly Father, who reveals the truth, who gives us the authentic gift of faith, so that we may remain united with him and ever moving toward him.