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After Simon gives his famous profession of faith in Jesus, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” Jesus immediately declares him blessed and gives him a new name: “And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church.”

Being given a new name in the Bible often goes along with being given a new identity, a new relationship with God, and a new mission. This is true here. Simon becomes “Peter,” which means “rock.” The fisherman becomes the rock on which Jesus builds his church.

Simon professes faith in Jesus, and he is changed. He becomes the first pope, the Vicar of Christ, and Jesus tells him that he will give him the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Clearly, this is a unique moment as far as professions of faith go, and Peter is given a unique vocation in the life of the church. But in some sense, this pattern is true for all of us. When we arrive at a deeper faith in who Jesus is, we are not left unchanged. We are transformed by that deeper faith.

Bishop Daniel H. Mueggenborg, originally a priest of Tulsa, Okla., and now the Bishop of Reno, Nev., writes that “every conversation of faith in which we come to know and confess Jesus more clearly should change us as well. When we profess Jesus as Lord, we are acknowledging that we are his subjects and not the subjects of any temporal authority or worldly power.

“When we profess Jesus as savior, we are acknowledging ourselves as sinners who need deliverance and redemption from the oppressive forces of sin that enslave and deceive us. When we profess Jesus as creator, we are acknowledging that everything we are is a gift from him, even life itself, and that we are only stewards of the many blessings God has entrusted to us. When we profess Jesus to be the Good Shepherd, we are acknowledging that we are His sheep and that we willingly refuse to follow anyone else who tries to lead us astray. The important point is this — anything we say about Jesus changes us because of our relationship to Him.”

What we believe matters. People often think that belief in particular doctrines is unimportant, if we are “good people.” Christians should know better than that. There are certain truths that

God has revealed to us for our salvation. Our response to that revelation is faith. And we know what Our Lord says about having faith the size of a mustard seed. Faith has enormous power, even if it seems small and hidden. It is the kind of thing that the world thinks is unimportant, but in fact it is decisive.

Just as we are not saved by faith without works, so too we are not saved by works without faith. Faith, along with hope and love, put the soul in direct contact with God and shape a person’s life. When we discover who Jesus is in a deeper way, and we believe in him, hope in him, and love him, our whole lives are changed by the power of those acts. Faith is the spark plug that gets the whole engine of the spiritual life started, as papal theologian Father Wojciech Giertych puts it: “When one makes an act of faith, immediately the supernatural life is set in motion. It is as though an engine is fired up.” The soul is then opened to the incomprehensible power of God’s grace.

This is what we see in today’s Gospel. Simon Peter has assented to what God the Father has revealed to him about who Jesus is. Then he professes it aloud, and he is changed. His life in Christ is set in motion. He has a long way to go, of course, and many faults to overcome. But the journey has begun in his new vocation as Peter, the Vicar of Christ.

We could ask ourselves whether we are constantly trying to get to know Jesus better, or if we have instead grown content with whatever level of faith we have. The more we enact faith, and the deeper we grow in faith, the more we are opened to the transformation wrought by grace. And if we are spending time with Jesus frequently, we can ask ourselves whether we let that encounter change us.