Ordinary Time - Week 21a
Upon this rock
(From Conversation with God, Fernandez Carvajal)The Gospel of the Mass shows us Jesus and his disciples in the neighbourhood of Caesarea Philippi. They had arrived there after leaving Bethsaida and taking the northern road along the edge of the lake. As they walk along, Jesus asks the Apostles, Who do men say that the Son of man is? Then, after they have relayed the various opinions people have, Jesus asks them directly, 'But who do you say that I am?' We all know this moment - says John Paul II - in which it is no longer sufficient to speak about Jesus by repeating what others have said. You must say what you think and not quote an opinion. You must bear witness, feel committed by the witness you have borne and catty this commitment to its extreme consequences. The best friends, followers and apostles of Christ have always been those who heard within them one day the definitive, inescapable question, before which all others become secondary and derivative: For you, who am I? A person's life, his whole future, depends on the clear, sincere and unequivocal answer, without rhetoric or subterfuge, that he gives to this question.
This question that Jesus puts to all his followers finds a special resonance in the heart of Peter, who, moved by a special grace, replies: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus calls Peter blessed for this truth-filled reply in which he openly confesses the divinity of him in whose company he has already spent some months. This is the moment chosen by Christ to tell Peter that upon him will fall the Primacy of the whole Church. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. He will be the rock, the firm foundation upon which Christ will build his Church, in such a way that no power will be able to overthrow it. And Our Lord himself has wanted Peter to feel supported and protected each day by the veneration, the love and the prayer of all the faithful. How do we pray every day for the Pope and his intentions? He has an awesome responsibility and we cannot leave him on his own. If we want to be really united to Christ, we have to be united in the first place to the person who takes his place here on earth. May the daily consideration of the heavy burden that weighs upon the Pope and the bishops move you to venerate and love them with real affection, and to help them with your prayers.
The keys signify power: I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David, we read in today's First Reading, the reference being to Eliakim, the steward of the royal palace. The power promised to Peter, which will be conferred on him after the resurrection, is immensely superior to this. He is not given the keys of an earthly kingdom, but of the Kingdom of Heaven, that kingdom which is not of this world but which is nurtured here and which will last forever. Peter has the power to bind and loose, that is, to absolve or to condemn, to gather or to exclude. This power is so great that whatever he decides on earth will be ratified in heaven. To exercise it, he counts on a special help from the Holy Spirit.