“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 shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:18-19).
Dear Marian Helpers and Members of our Marian Family,
The Gospel passage we read this Sunday is one of the main passages that we as Catholics point to as Biblical evidence of the Papacy. Jesus Himself entrusts leadership and governance of the Church to Peter and gives him the “power of the keys,” allowing him to include or exclude certain individuals from the Christian community, to faithfully interpret Scripture and Tradition, to govern the Church, and to bind and loose.
While this may seem to be an overwhelming responsibility for one man, we can see, very plainly in the Word of God, that this is exactly what Jesus did.
As Catholics, we are members of the Catholic Church, which means we are obedient to the priests and bishops of the Church, especially the Bishop of Rome, the Pope, who is the Vicar of Christ, a custodian and teacher of the faith. His responsibility is an enormous one: to shepherd the Church and proclaim the Gospel for the salvation of souls throughout the world.
This is not a task he can do alone! He needs our help, to spread the faith, to show love, and to teach truth where he is not able to go.
I highly doubt that the Holy Father will ever be able to visit your place of work, your corner off-licence, your school, or home parish. You probably won’t find him down at the local pub, having a pint and eating pork scratchings…
That’s where we come in. We need to spread the light, the truth, the love of Christ to those places, to show goodness and holiness to the people there. In fact, we share in the same mission: to go to all the world and tell the Good News.
Today, pray for the Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, and I encourage you to pray for him daily. The weight of his office is immense, but with God’s help and docility to the Spirit, the mission entrusted to him (and to us) is possible.
Does this mean that every single decision that the Pope makes is a good one? Not necessarily. Does this mean that he might make mistakes, pick a lousy bishop, or say something that he probably shouldn’t have? Probably.
But there is something rather comforting about the fact that Christ entrusted His Church to Peter. Peter was not perfect. He misunderstood Jesus, spoke when he should have kept quiet, lost his nerve walking on the water and, when things became truly difficult, denied even knowing the Lord.
Yet Jesus knew all of this when He said, “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church” (Matthew 16:18). The strength of the Church does not ultimately depend upon the holiness, intelligence or competence of any particular Pope. It depends upon Christ, who promised that the gates of hell would not prevail against His Church.
Perhaps that should also give us a little encouragement. Christ does not wait for perfect people before entrusting them with His work. He called Peter, and He calls you and me. We may never carry the keys of the Kingdom or stand on the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica, but each of us has been entrusted with some little corner of the Kingdom.
So let us pray for the Holy Father, remain faithful to the Church, and then get on with the work Christ has given us to do…wherever our own little corner of the Kingdom happens to be!
May God bless you now and always!
Fr Alex Pumphrey, MIC
______________________________
Contact >Father Alex at info@divinemercy.org.uk
Please send us your prayer intentions! (click here). We will place them at the foot of our altar in the Divine Mercy Apostolate’s Chapel here in West Ealing, London and will remember them in our daily Chaplets of Divine Mercy.
