Peter’s Confession about Jesus

Today's Reflections

 

Peter’s Confession about Jesus

graceandspace.org

Mt 16:13-19

¹³When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” ¹⁴They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” ¹⁵He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” ¹⁶Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” ¹⁷Jesus 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. ¹⁸And 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. ¹⁹I 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.”

UPON THIS ROCK I WILL BUILD MY CHURCH. Jesus invests Simon Peter with the authority to become the servant-leader to the apostles and to the rest of the Church. Jesus chooses Peter among other apostles for reasons known to God alone. Impetuous and irascible, Peter can be profuse in his promises. “I will lay down my life for you,” he assures Jesus at the Last Supper (Jn 13:37). Peter attempts to foil Jesus’ arrest by cutting off the right ear of Malchus, the slave of the High Priest (cf Jn 18:10). But at Jesus’ trial, Peter follows at a distance, seeks refuge in a charcoal fire inside the courtyard, and thrice denies his connection with Jesus. Despite his human failings, however, Peter is Jesus’ choice to become the Prince of the Church whose task is to continue the saving work of God on earth.

What we celebrate today is the episcopal dignity and universal primacy of that high office instituted by Jesus himself. The Latin word for chair is cathedra, from which the English cathedral is derived. A cathedral is a bishop’s church in which the bishop sits and teaches as shepherd of his diocese. When he sits on his cathedra in his cathedral, the bishop symbolically presents and protects the unity of the local church over which he presides.

Today’s feast affirms that the Pope, as bishop of Rome and successor of Peter, sits in Peter’s chair and guarantees the unity of the entire Church in Christ.

Pray that the Pope may always be a true

servus servorum Dei (servant of the servants of God).