All Other Ground is Sinking Sand

The Confession of St. Peter

What is the rock of Christ’s Church? Is it a person, is it knowledge and learning? Is it the works that we do in God’s Name? It’s none of these, my friends. The rock, upon which Christ’s Church is built, is faith. We can have all the works in the world, we can have all the love in the world, we can have all the knowledge in the world. But if we do not have faith, then we remain enslaved to death and are not free of the chains of sin. It is upon the rock of faith that our chains are broken; faith in mystery of a God who would sacrifice Himself for us miserable sinners, faith in mystery of a God who in doing so frees us from death and the dominion of the princes and principalities of the world, faith in mystery of a God who rose again and will come again.

It is in faith in Christ that the works that we do are filled with hope and healing. It is in faith in Christ that the love that we hold for one another is filled with reconciliation and renewal. It is in faith in Christ that the knowledge we seek is revealed, for none can know the Father without first knowing Christ.

Peter, who knew the living Jesus, was the first to proclaim Him as the Messiah. Peter, a worker. Peter, a layman. Peter, the son of Jonah. It was this man, not so different from us, who first proclaimed that Jesus was the Son of the living God before the very gates of Hell. And even then Peter had doubts. Peter walked on water next to Jesus and, still, he doubted. Peter had done works in Jesus’ Name and had seen works done in His Name, and still, he doubted. And yet, it is upon the rock of faith as first shown by Peter that the Church is built. We all live with doubts and misgivings, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t myself. And yet, it is in faith that I know I am freed. I know that Christ has died for me, and that His blood washes me clean. And I know that when the nights are darkest and the storms are strongest, that even in my doubt and in my misgivings, Christ’s hand will be there to pull me into the ship just as it was for Peter.

Faith is hard, my friends, but we take refuge from the storms of doubt in a God who understands us because He lived amongst us. “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” Our Lord and our Shepherd provides us refuge in the hardest of times, all we need do is trust in Him. Our faith is the rock upon which we must continue to cling, all other ground is sinking sand.