Fellow St Jude Parishioners:
In the words of the Gospel reading for this coming Sunday, August 23, Jesus gives to St Peter his special mission. “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church… 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.”
When the time came, around the year 66AD at the death of St Peter, St Linus would become our second Pope. At his death around the year 77AD, St Cletus would become our third Pope. And so on up until the year 2013, when Pope Benedict retired and Pope Francis became our 266th and current Holy Father.
From one generation to the next, this special mission of being the Holy Father for the entire, world-wide Catholic Church has since passed on from one Pope to the next, along an established and direct apostolic lineage from Saint Peter — with each Archbishop of Rome inheriting those special responsibilities and privileges that we hear Jesus originally give to St Peter in the Gospel reading.
Our Holy Father, the Pope, the Archbishop of Rome and successor of Peter, is the visible and perpetual foundation of unity among the bishops and among us — Christ’s faithful — with the Pope being the Spiritual Father of all of us in the Catholic Church.
It is interesting that Jesus chose Peter to be our first leader, given what is written about Peter in the Gospels. Peter was an impulsive man. We know, from last week’s Gospel, that Peter was the one who climbed over the side of a boat to walk on the water to Jesus. At the Transfiguration when Jesus took Peter, James and John up a mountain to pray and Jesus becomes radiant in glory and Moses and Elijah appear, Peter wanted to build a tent for all of them to stay in.
We know that after Jesus was arrested, Peter denied that he even knew Jesus, not once, but three times. And, shortly after Jesus tells Peter that he is the rock upon which His Church will be built, Jesus rebukes Peter because Peter tries to stand in the way of Jesus foretelling of His death.
Peter was in no way a perfect man, but he was real. He made many mistakes, but he always came back to Jesus for forgiveness. When Peter directly asked Jesus how many times should one be forgiven, Jesus replied not seven times, but seven times seventy times.
After the resurrection, Jesus appeared to his disciples and shared breakfast with them. Jesus turned to Peter and asked him, three times, “Peter, do you love me?” Each time Peter answered, YES — the three yes’s cancelling out the three times that Peter denied Jesus. And in this affirmation of Peter, Jesus emphasizes Peter’s role as chief shepherd, ‘take care of my sheep.’
Peter teaches us that we don’t have to be perfect to be granted a plan by Jesus. So in imitation of the great St Peter, let each one of us embrace the plan that Jesus offers. We should never allow our transgressions to separate us from God. We can confidently go to Jesus, as Peter did, and know that we, too, can be forgiven. It was Peter’s great love that saved him, let our love for Jesus be great as well.
Yours in Christ,
Fr Henry
