Today's readings: Isaiah 22, 19-23; Romans 11, 33-36; Matthew 16, 13-20

Today's text from the Gospel of Matthew has most probably served for these last 2,000 years as Jesus' most reassuring words on whatever might happen to the Church. Yet, in this same text Jesus speaks also of "the gates of the underworld". Jesus never promised a triumphant and splendid Church. At no point did he lead his apostles to dream of good times for those who would be his followers.

This is why at Caesarea Philippi, and following on Peter's proclamation of his true identity, he gave his disciples strict orders not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.

There has always been a great divide between what the Church represents and what public opinion wants to hear.

As Paul writes to the Romans, "how rich are the depths of God and how impossible to penetrate His motives or understand His methods." It is only God's deep wisdom and knowledge that can set the context for a true understanding of the Church.

The post-modern mindset tends to reject global, one-size-fits-all communities and explanations of truth. We even tend to become numb and casual toward the threats to the Gospel truth that currently shape our way of thinking and living. Like Peter, before reacting or just answering questions posed, we need to be led by the Father's revelation.

Truth is never a matter of hearsay. It can never be determined by a majority vote. To know the truth is not a question of hearing what people have to say, although that always remains a must for us.

The Church and public opinion have never seen eye to eye. But it is public opinion that sets the rules of the game in our culture. Indeed, public opinion for many is where truth is fabricated. The Church has crossed great divides in history and it will also respond to the challenges of our changing cultural context. But that will not necessarily happen in the sense public opinion may indicate.

The Church may be in transition. But real transition involves more than just stylistic change. This is confirmed by the experience of the Church even in its recent history.

Caesarea Philippi is the scene where the investiture of Peter occurs.

Peter is praised as having received a divine revelation, as being the Church's foundation, and given special authority. This has served as a basis for the much-debated papal primacy. The text attributes to Peter a certain pre-eminence and even primacy among the 12 apostles. But the Church's authority where truth is concerned is not a question of power. I acknowledge that for many today, 'Church' is a heavy-loaded reality. No one today is naïve about the Church's past or its failings.

But Christianity stands or falls with this proclamation of faith on the part of Peter. Jesus is interested in what public opinion says, in what people actually think about him. But Peter's answer to Jesus' question is not just an opinion, it's not just what he thinks.

It is an act of faith. There is a difference between what I think and what I believe. The Church cannot be built on what we think, but primarily on our act of believing.

We really miss the point when we think of Jesus as founder of the Church in the same manner as we think of founders of other institutions. Jesus is the foundation of the Church, and the foundation did not occur as a transference of powers, but on the Cross.

That is why to be in the Church is to endure a broken form of life. We cannot understand the Church in purely organisational or managerial terms.

That is also why when we see the Church in ruins, we are not led to curse God for failing to provide us with a triumphant and splendid Church in which to dwell.