Gospel of Matthew, chapter 16:18

Since we are all members of Christ, we are part of a great organization: the church. As members of a church, we have a very important task; that is, to mediate Christ to the world. If you are spending much of your time nit-picking the church, you are running the deadly risk of seeing it as closed shop. The church is an open kingdom, it is not of this world; the church is not for the church alone; it is for the salvation of the world.

In today’s gospel (Matthew 16:18), St. Peter is placed in the position of leadership in the Church. He is given a new name–“rock”. What qualified Peter for this leadership role were his passionate faith and his willingness to risk himself in favor of that faith. Every Pope, Catholics believe, has been placed in this position of leadership in the universal church by God’s providence. It is not for us to sit around and scratch our heads over this. We should recognize that God’s ways are not our ways. They are often “inscrutable” to us as the scripture tells us.

The question addressed by Jesus to Peter: “who do you say that I am?” is addressed to each one of us. For Peter to say that Jesus was the Messiah was an acknowledgment of the first order. This profession could only have sprung from faith. It declared that for Peter and for all of us, Jesus is the Son of God, the Savior of the world. The positioning of Peter as head of the church, confirmed that Jesus’ messianic work would succeed and that it would continue to be sparked by the power of God for all ages; in a changing world full of weak human beings.

In today’s scripture, we are invited like St Peter, to make a personal response of faith to who Jesus is and who He is for us. The way we respond makes all the difference to the church to which we belong, and to our mission in the world.

Fr. Hugh Duffy