Gospel Mt 16:13-19
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 Christ, 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.”
Homily
The North American culture in which most of us live is highly individualistic and tells us that we must know ourselves and that others must not name us, for those who name us control us. We are encouraged therefore to define ourselves. We tell others not to take on what others say. We hear persons saying, I do not care what you think about me. When we do that however we run great peril of fooling ourselves. We need the opinion of others, people whom we respect of course, as a corrective to the danger of self-aggrandizement or self-minimization.
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In the Gospel given to us for our meditation this week, we see Jesus in the same situation. We must remember that Jesus as St. Paul says was “human like us in all but sin!” He had his convictions like all of us. He had made options which gave a certain direction to his life but he was also the recipient of great opposition from the scribes and Pharisees. Jesus therefore goes to his trusted companions and asks them; “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” His disciples tell him what the general opinions are or as we would say, what people on the ground are saying, so they replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” Jesus then asks them, his trusted companions, those who have been walking with him and who would know him more deeply and He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answers in reply, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus’ knowledge of himself is thus affirmed and he tells Peter in effect, I know what you say is true because you could only have come to that by the inspiration of the same person who has told me that very same thing, My Heavenly Father. Jesus recognizes that Peter and the disciples have the very same intuition that he has and he tells Simon, “from now on you are the rock. It is on your acceptance and belief in that intuition that our community will be built.”The Rock is the faith of Peter and the Apostles, a faith that has been transmitted to us down through the ages and which we all hold. That is why St. Paul in his letter to the Ephesians chapter 4, reminds them; There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.… What is even more important is that this one faith calls all of us to let the Gospel of Jesus Christ inform our decisions and actions so that the church truly becomes the Body of Christ in the present age. This is the vision which all the faithful, clergy and laity must have if the church is to survive for as scripture says to us; “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” If this is true of secular institutions, it is also true of the Church and history is replete with examples of institutions within the Church which have disappeared precisely because the vision was lost and the intuition around which members could coalesce was extinct.
In this gospel passage Jesus tells Peter, “upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. Yes the universal church will never disappear but over the course of history several local churches have. All of North Africa, which was once a flourishing Christian region, producing great saints like Augustine, St. Moses the Black and St. Melchiades, the 2nd African Pope, is totally Muslim. What this says to us is that we must find ways of ensuring that all of us know our founding intuition and have the vision; “one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.…” around which we can coalesce and through which the church can contribute to making the world a better place for all. If this does not happen and happen very quickly we become irrelevant and will certainly perish. As we thank God for Peter’s faith down through the ages, and for Peter’s fidelity to the mission of preserving the unity of the Church, we pray that we will also be faithful to the task of showing to the world the so loving and merciful face of God. If we are faithful to this task the gates of hell will not prevail against us.
Prayer
All powerful and ever-loving God, Simon was inspired by the Heavenly Father to declare Jesus, the Messiah sent to save us. Inspire us also so that we may come to know your Son Jesus more intimately. Give us the courage to proclaim Him as Lord, the One who has the solutions to the problems which this world faces. We ask this through the intercession of Mary, our Mother and the same Jesus, your son, Amen
