Greetings on this the Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter, Apostle
Readings: 1 Peter 5:1-4; Psalm 23:1-3a, 4, 5, 6; Matthew 16:13-19
Chair of Saint Peter
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.”
Our Shared Responsibility
Peter as head of Church has a job to do. He is to be the foundation on which to build the kingdom on the ‘territory’ of the netherworld. He/we/us are to bind the wounds and loosen the fetters. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners (Lk 5:32). It is Christ, the Son of the living God, who is the master builder.
We are in the midst of contested territory. The hearts and souls of humanity. Wounded, chained in a sort of prison. This will not stand. We call out to hear one another to find each other. We dedicate our life to the restoration of this chosen race, humanity.
Mode of Operation
Saint Peter in his first letter describes the mode of operation.
Tend the flock of God in your midst,
overseeing not by constraint but willingly,
as God would have it, not for shameful profit but eagerly.
Do not lord it over those assigned to you,
but be examples to the flock.
The Church has no need to align with fascists and dictators. Only the poor. Stand up to Caesar. Stand up to the Emperor.
Pray for Pope Francis
Pope Francis is a person who puts the relational model ahead of all other understandings of the Church and her role to bind and loosen. So often he teaches us to step into (compassion means to enter into the passion of another) the reality of another and empowered by the Holy Spirit to fashion a freedom not even considered before – a solution not designed by men but by God.
Pope Francis came in an Age of Rage and a Season of Emotions. He counsels us to stop deciding based on our instinctive, guttural feelings but on the objective reality of the Subject. Humans are the subject of all endeavors. Objectively understanding them and in context of divine love is what loosens and binds.
Offer your compassion! Are you not or will you not be old one day? Are you not or will you not be sick one day? How can it be that we have eyes but cannot see? Or have ears but cannot hear?
In the midst
We are in the midst. Let us be first and foremost be com-Passionists.
Sacred Readings full text: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/022225.cfm
Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry