The gospel passage today describes a crisis of faith among many of the followers of Jesus.

They begin to doubt his teachings and about whom he claims to be. It results from the difficultly they have in accepting Jesus' teaching that he is the sacramental bread of life. They also find it hard to understand when Jesus says that he will "ascent to where he was before".

Amidst the crisis, Peter is portrayed as a model of faith. When questioned by Jesus as to whether the apostles are also thinking of going away from him, Peter takes a leap of faith and declares that they will not leave him. Because firstly, Jesus has "the message of eternal life", and secondly, Jesus is "the Holy One of God".

In the first reading too, Peter is shown as the model of faith. The account of the physical healing of Aeneas and the raising from the dead of Tabitha are both attributed to Peter, although it is in Jesus' name that he performs them.

The accounts of the healing by Peter shows how far he has come. He who once denied knowing Jesus now has complete faith in him.

As followers of Christ, we may have our moments of crisis of faith. In such times, we may even contemplate walking away because we do not understand or cannot accept what the Church teaches or demands from us.

However, the figure of Peter reminds that with God's grace, we too can be led from doubt to belief.