You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do

8 AUGUST (Mt 16,13-23)

When theology from the understanding of the Word of God becomes the interpretation of history without the Word and against it, instantly it turns into a mournful thought without any real light. This is what happens to men, called to give full truth to the Word of revelation, when with superb humility they stand as teachers of others, ignoring that the Holy Spirit does not create communion between who speaks and listens.

Who speaks thinks of seducing the world with his artificial reasons; he does not know that who listens remains cold, insensitive, because he knows that what is proclaimed, preached and explained is not the truth of God. Never must to one who professes himself to be a theologian and minister of the Word; happen to justify his actions, his choices and his personal decisions attributing them to the will of God, when the Lord has not spoken and has not manifested himself.

The interpretations of history on what happens in it are almost all false, because they lack in the light of the Holy Spirit. Only who is filled with the Holy Spirit can read the fulfillment of a Word of the Lord in history. He reads it according to truth. He sees it in its inner and outer beauty. He contemplates it in its purest essence. Those who are not in the Holy Spirit, cannot read according to the truth. The are spiritual illiterate, they are devoid of spiritual logic, they are deficient in natural theology, they are stripped of any supernatural energy, the only means that allows God to be seen in our history in all his manifestations, even the smallest.

When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Then he strictly ordered his disciples to tell no one that he was the Messiah. From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised. Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.” He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”

Peter confessed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. He knows that Jesus is the Messiah of the Lord, but he does not exactly know who the Messiah is. He cannot know it. He lacks the communion with the Holy Spirit, he lives in a world of spiritual darkness and mist, he is influenced by the thought of the world and understands the truth of his Master and Lord according to this thinking. Jesus to Peter is a king of this world, in the manner of all the kings of this world. However, he is a strong, glorious and triumphant king, capable of defeating and canceling all of his enemies.

This is a true thought according to men. The true Messiah of God is not humanly powerful person. He is divinely powerful, not materially but spiritually, since his kingdom is not from down here but from up there, it is not an earthly kingdom in the manner of the one of David. Instead, it is a spiritual kingdom, of up there. It is also a particular kingdom: his eternal king must pass through death. Only after death he will be enthroned as the true king of the new kingdom of God.

Peter does not understand this mystery. Neither could he, even if he wanted to. What is missing in him is the connection with the Holy Spirit. He is still deprived of him. Jesus was not crucified yet and the Holy Spirit cannot be given to believers. Jesus rebukes him not because he understands nothing, but because in this case he claimed to be his Master. He is a disciple and he must remain forever a disciple.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints fill us with the Holy Spirit.