Jesus’s proclamation that the Church will be built on Peter is intriguing, because Jesus says that Peter’s faith is the reason, not his strength, courage, nor any other skill or trait. This doesn’t mean that Peter will never falter, as we know that he does. But it shows that deep down, this anchor of faith is the foundational pillar for all. By Jesus’s own words, this is based on Peter’s faith in Him as the Son of God, a truth revealed not by “flesh and blood,” but by the Father. Because of that core belief, all else will follow.
For us, this shows us how critical faith is in our lives. If we underpin ourselves with one of our fleeting traits like our fitness or intelligence, these will fail us and we will flounder. This is the strength of faith as an anchor, because regardless of successes, failures, age, knowledge, health, whatever it may be, faith will not leave us. But faith alone is merely the first step. It is on us to build upon it and root everything else through this framing.
For me, this plays out each day, praying with my family before we eat dinner or go to bed, and each weekend, as Mass is the priority that is planned around. These small but everyday choices help me build upon that faith with my family. These show an intentional direction of ordering priorities: faith, family, and then the rest follows.
It is not always perfectly executed. Like Peter, I still falter. There are days when the noise of the week tries to drown out the quiet rhythm of these priorities, or when my own reliance on “flesh and blood” tries to take the center seat. But the anchor holds as it should. When I can hold and keep life ordered this way, where the week hinges on Sunday mass and the day closes with a family prayer before bed, everything else seems to fall into place. Work, community, and personal pursuits are no longer frantic attempts to prove my worth. They come through as a grounded life, not something to rise above all else. It’s an important reminder that nothing we build will truly last until we are tethered to something truly permanent.