Faith-Papacy-St John Lateran

HOMILY WEEK 06 06 – Year II

The Chair of St. Peter

(1 Pt 5:1-4; Ps 23; Mt 16:13-19)

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In 1988, on a trip to Edmonton, a lay couple and I were able to sit on the bed and chair used by Pope JP II at the then Grey Nun’s Center in Edmonton, where he had been lodged during his visit to Canada.

Today the Church celebrates the feast of the Chair of St. Peter. Each bishop has a cathedra, or chair that is reserved for him. The pope’s chair is in the Church of St. John the Lateran in Rome, because Pope Francis is not only pope for the world, but also the bishop of Rome. This church is also one of the churches the world’s bishops visit whenever they go to Rome as a region for their ad limina visits.

That chair is a symbol of the pope’s teaching authority or magisterium. It is linked with Jesus sitting down to teach with his authority. Our celebration of this feast day focuses on the message that we are to grow stronger in faith and deeper in love.

Turning to the Gospel, Caeserea Philippi is in north-east Israel where the ruins and splendor of the gods and religion of Greece and the Caesar worship of Rome were located, and where the history of Israel found a focus. Here Jesus asks those who follow him who they believe him to be, and expects an answer. It is as if, while the orthodox plotted to kill Jesus as a heretic, Jesus stands with twelve apostles and deliberately sets himself against the background of the world’s religions in all their history and their splendor, demanding to be compared with them and to have the verdict given in his favor. There are few scenes where Jesus’ consciousness of his own divinity shines out with a more dazzling light.

According to Barclay, Peter’s name means rock, and his destiny is to be a rock. He is the first to recognize Jesus for who he is, and therefore he is the first stone in the edifice of the fellowship of those who belong to Jesus. Against that fellowship the powers of evil will not prevail. Peter will be a steward who will unlock the doors of the Kingdom that Jew and Gentile may come in, and he must be the wise administrator and guide who will solve the problems and direct the work of the infant and growing fellowship.

Some scholars see Peter as here paralleled to Abraham: just as Abram stood at the beginning of the people of God, had his name changed, and was called a rock, so also Peter stands at the beginning of a new people of God and receives the Abrahamic name “rock” to signify this.

It is significant that here in Matthew the prediction that Peter will be the first leader of the Church is based on his faith, while in the Gospel of John Jesus establishes him as the first leader based on his love. Three times in John Peter is asked if he loves Jesus, a gentle reminder of the three times he had denied him. It is also an experience by Peter of the forgiveness of Jesus for that triple denial. The foundation of the new Israel, the new people of God, the Church, is therefore a strong faith in Jesus, the experience of his forgiveness, and a deep love for him.

That Jesus would give to the early Church the power to forgive, to bind and loose as the keys to the kingdom of God is awesome. Here in the Gospel of Matthew it is a prediction. That prediction would be fulfilled in the upper room after Jesus’ resurrection when he appears to them. That too is an experience of forgiveness for abandoning him when he was arrested. Above all, it is then that Jesus breathes on them and fulfills what he says in this passage from Matthew, that they would be agents of forgiveness in the world. That forgiveness is the key to the kingdom of heaven.

This teaching of course has led to the sacrament of reconciliation in the Church that to this day offers hope and new life to we believers who have strayed into sin or harmatia, and fallen short of what Jesus is asking of us.

There are times when a confessor will end up denying absolution from a penitent who has either made a false and insincere confession, or does so with no intention to change a sinful behavior. Happy are those who come to the sacrament with the right disposition and attitude – they will receive both forgiveness and healing and go away justified in God’s sight.

Serge LeClerc was a former gang leader who in his heyday ended up bootlegging alcohol, selling drugs, and actually shooting rival gang members. Finally the law caught up to him, and he was incarcerated. There he had a conversion experience through the bible and the pastoral ministry of the chaplains, and changed his life. He was forgiven his sins, even the sin of murder, and subsequently toured the country as a motivational speaker, trying to help others not follow the path that he had taken, all for the sake of identity, money and power. That is the amends that he tried to make for his past sins. The good news is that there is no sin that God cannot and will not forgive. Such is the awesome power God has given to the Church.

The Eucharist is a profound act of faith in Jesus as Messiah and Son of God who gave his life for us. It also makes present the love of the Father for us that Jesus showed the world on the Cross.

May our celebration today strengthen our faith in Jesus and deepen our love for him, and for the leadership of the Church that is now represented by our chief shepherd, Pope Francis.