Today, in the Gospel, Jesus asked his apostles who they say he is. Peter declared, “you are the Christ, the Son of the Living God”, meaning that he is the anointed Messiah that has come to save the world. Paul tells us in the second reading, it is “from him”, this Christ Messiah, “and through him and for him are all things”.
In Paul’s statement, Christ is the center of everything that exists, our world, all creation and the entire universe. Christ also is supposed to be the center of our lives. It was in his image and likeness that each of us is created. He is the Word of God through whom everything came to be.
If Christ is to be the center of our lives, we are then to live our lives from him, through him and for him. Living from Christ means having Christ as the source and origin of all our actions in life. None of what we do should ever originate from selfishness but always should be God’s centered.
Doing everything through Christ means that Christ is to be the means through which we do all we do. We are always to rely on the power of God, especially prayer. Of course, it does not mean that we should not use natural means to solve our problems. For example, when someone is sick, he should go to the doctor but one should acknowledge also that, ultimately, it is God who is working through the doctor.
Doing everything for God means that the end of our every action should invariably lead to God. The motive of our every action should be love. Sometimes the consequences of our actions may not always be pleasing to everybody, but we should not worry as long as we are trying to do the right thing for God.
In the Gospel, Peter declared Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God. Peter was able to do that because he has experienced who Christ is. Peter’s whole life has been Christ-centered. God used his experience of Christ to reveal Christ’s identity to him. In the same way, like Peter, we can only know Christ, if everything we do in life is from him, through him, and all for him.