Would the Real Pope Please Stand Up?

Excerpt from Pope Benedict XVI's homily

MASS FOR THE INAUGURATION OF THE PONTIFICATE OF POPE BENEDICT XVI

St. Peter's Square
Sunday, 24 April 2005

"How could 115 Bishops, from every culture and every country, discover the one on whom the Lord wished to confer the mission of binding and loosing? Once again, we knew that we were not alone, we knew that we were surrounded, led and guided by the friends of God. And now, at this moment, weak servant of God that I am, I must assume this enormous task, which truly exceeds all human capacity. How can I do this? How will I be able to do it? All of you, my dear friends, have just invoked the entire host of Saints, represented by some of the great names in the history of God’s dealings with mankind. In this way, I too can say with renewed conviction: I am not alone. I do not have to carry alone what in truth I could never carry alone. All the Saints of God are there to protect me, to sustain me and to carry me. And your prayers, my dear friends, your indulgence, your love, your faith and your hope accompany me."

Pope Benedict is.... AWESOME.

This week's Gospel, speaks of the beginning of Jesus' church. There is commentary following the Gospel only and the other readings are at the bottom. This week's commentary includes some new material and some excerpts from previous writings. This week's commentary is shorter, and Mass Excitement will probably be changing to a shorter format for the sake of readers.

Gospel
Mt 16:13-20

Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi and
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.”
Then he strictly ordered his disciples
to tell no one that he was the Christ.

Peter and the Papacy

In Matthew 16: 13-20, Jesus named Peter "Rock". His original name was Simon. It's because Peter was the only person who recognized Jesus for who he was that Jesus said he would build his church on Peter and give Peter the keys to heaven. Every man suffers from a big ego. So, before Peter had a chance to toot his horn, Jesus told him that “Blessed are you Simon, Son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.”

In other words, “very good Simon, but you didn’t figure this out with that 3 pound brain of yours. Rather, my Father revealed it to you.” This revelation from God and Peter’s confession of Jesus’ identity is so important to Jesus that he says, “upon this rock I will build my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven.”

What does Jesus mean by, "the gates of hell shall not prevail against "my" church. First of all, Jesus is saying the church he builds on Peter is "my" church. Whatever Jesus says comes true and he says that gates of hell shall not prevail against his church. He is talking about the Catholic Church and the only Church that existed for the first 1500 years after Jesus' death. Jesus gave the keys to Peter. The “key” or “keys” is a symbol of authority in the first reading, and in Revelations 3:7. In this Gospel, the language explicitly says that Peter is given authority.

At first glance, it looks rather strange that Jesus would “give the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven” to Peter and allow him to “bind and loose” whatever he wishes just because he was the only person who knew Jesus’ identity. But, we should remember that Jesus is the greatest teacher of the faith ever because he is the only one who knows the Father COMPLETELY. Knowing who the Father is COMPLETELY is what makes Jesus such a good teacher. In a similar way, Peter was the first pope because he was the only one of the apostles who could recognize Jesus for who he was.

This has very important implications for us. We should listen to what Peter says. In John 21:2, it says “there are also many other things that Jesus did, but if these were to be described individually, I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written.”

Personally, I want to know what “other things” Jesus did. It just so happens that there were 11 apostles who knew Jesus well (11 because of Judas). Peter was the first pope, and the other apostles were the first bishops and priests of the church. If we read the Catechism, we’ll find the other knowledge that God has passed to his church through his best friends on Earth and through continuous divine revelation. Peter has a successor today united with the bishops at our service.

Protection From Harm

In Matthew 7:25, Jesus says, "The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock." This passage is very similar to the Gospel because it says the house did not collapse because of "rock". The Catholic Church is built on rock. Ultimately, we profess that we believe in one Holy, Apostolic, Catholic Church in the profession of faith. As Catholics, we must believe EVERYTHING that the church teaches. That's right, we cannot call ourselves Catholic unless we believe EVERYTHING that the Church teaches with zero exceptions. Year after year, and century after century, the church is assaulted with heresies, such as, "Jesus was not really human", "Jesus was not really God", "there is no such thing as hell". How do we know who to listen to? God is practical, and he gave us our church leaders to teach us what teachings are RIGHT and which are wrong. Jesus knew that "rain" would fall, "floods" would come, and "winds" would strike the house (our church) and yet it would not collapse. Because Jesus has built the church on Rock, " and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it".

The Church teaches us that the Pope is the leader of the church. If we reject the teaching of the Pope's authority, we reject the teaching authority of the Church which was established for our benefit in the first place. On the other hand, an acceptance of our pope is an acceptance of a gift that God wishes to give us- the successor of the Rock which God has built his church on- Pope Benedict the XVI.

The Point

• Unlike John the Baptist ("there has been none greater than John the Baptist") and EVERYONE else, God revealed to Peter who Jesus was, and so Jesus named him the first pope.
  
• The Catholic Church is Jesus' church and Jesus gave the authority to Peter (a sinner), and to his successor, now Pope Benedict XVI (also a sinner).

• Jesus taught many other things that were not written in the Bible and his best friends Peter and the bishops know him best, we must have faith in them and the teachings of our church
  


• If we reject the teaching of the Pope as the leader of our Church, we reject the teaching authority of the Church and therefore we reject the Church itself, which is built on the Rock that Jesus himself chose.
  

Real Life

When I lived as a missionary, I used to go to this pond on the Lord's ranch which some of you are familiar with. I LOVED going to this pond. It was my favorite place to pray. It is a little bit bigger than a football field and surrounded by flat desert with beautiful brown mountains not far away. There are always animals there including ducks and other birds, coyotes, and lots of rabbits. I liked the pond most of all because of how quiet and isolated it was. Because of the silence, lack of distraction, and holiness of the place, my prayer seemed great there. I felt as though I made leaps towards God in those times of prayer.










I no longer live there, so I can't go there to pray. About 2 weeks ago, I walked to a park near where I am staying (I live 1,700 miles from the Lord's Ranch pond) and I sat on a park bench. It was cloudy and the weather was around 80 degrees with a breeze. I closed my eyes in prayer and I pictured the pond at the Lord's Ranch. I pictured the ducks, and I imagined the tranquility with the mountains in the distance. Indeed, the park where I was was also very quiet and I felt that God was telling me this: "you like the peace and tranquility at that pond don't you? Stick with me, and i will give you peace and quiet wherever you go". It felt fantastic and I remembered that my peace comes not from a place, but from the God of heaven who wishes to speak to us.

God loves us. >>>>that's a video on the right



Reading 1
Is 22:19-23

Thus says the LORD to Shebna, master of the palace:
“I will thrust you from your office
and pull you down from your station.
On that day I will summon my servant
Eliakim, son of Hilkiah;
I will clothe him with your robe,
and gird him with your sash,
and give over to him your authority.
He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
and to the house of Judah.
I will place the key of the House of David on Eliakim’s shoulder;
when he opens, no one shall shut
when he shuts, no one shall open.
I will fix him like a peg in a sure spot,
to be a place of honor for his family.”

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 138:1-2, 2-3, 6, 8

R. (8bc) Lord, your love is eternal; do not forsake the work of your hands.
I will give thanks to you, O LORD, with all my heart,
for you have heard the words of my mouth;
in the presence of the angels I will sing your praise;
I will worship at your holy temple.
R. Lord, your love is eternal; do not forsake the work of your hands.
I will give thanks to your name,
because of your kindness and your truth:
When I called, you answered me;
you built up strength within me.
R. Lord, your love is eternal; do not forsake the work of your hands.
The LORD is exalted, yet the lowly he sees,
and the proud he knows from afar.
Your kindness, O LORD, endures forever;
forsake not the work of your hands.
R. Lord, your love is eternal; do not forsake the work of your hands.

Reading II
Rom 11:33-36

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!
How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways!
For who has known the mind of the Lord
or who has been his counselor?
Or who has given the Lord anything
that he may be repaid?
For from him and through him and for him are all things.
To him be glory forever. Amen.