Apostolic Succession

"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; whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 16: 15-19)

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter the Apostle. This feast commemorates the teaching authority of the Vicar of Christ. Pope Benedict XIV tells us, “Celebrating the ‘Chair’ of Peter means attributing a strong spiritual significance to it and recognizing it as a privileged sign of the love of God.” From the very beginning Christ knew that he would only be here on earth for a short time and would need a successor to continue on the good works which he began. Peter knew who Jesus was because he opened his heart to the Father and God reveled this to him. His was a true conversion but it didn’t happen overnight. During the time that Peter was with Jesus he grew in his faith. We see several examples of this in the gospels. When Jesus approached them walking on the water, Peter says to him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”  Jesus does this and Peter begins to walk on the water but then gets frightened and begins to sink. He cries out, “Lord, save me!” And immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and saved him. Later during the Passion of Christ we see that Peter denies Jesus not once but three times. Through the mercy of God he is forgiven and comes to know the love of the Father. On our own journey we grow in faith. We may learn a lot about Jesus and the Church’s teachings but at some point we have to make the profession with our hearts not just our lips. In Luke’s gospel Jesus tells Peter, “I have prayed that your faith may not fail, and once you have turned back, strengthen your brother.” (Luke 22:32) Jesus prayed for Peter and he prays for us too. He prays that we, too, turn to him for all that we need.

Our Church, the Catholic Church, will endure because it was founded by Christ and the first pope was chosen by Christ himself. It brings me great comfort to know that this succession has never been broken. With the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI there is a lot of speculation that someone new is going to come in and bring the Church into the 21^st century. But the Church was founded on Truth which is unchangeable. The priesthood was instituted by Christ at the Last Supper and the Apostolic Succession was instituted by Christ when he spoke those words to Peter. “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; whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”  In this promise of Jesus to Peter, the infallibility of the pope is preserved and papal infallibility is one of the channels of the infallibility of the Church. And so the Holy Spirit will guide the cardinals when they gather together to choose our next pope, our next Apostolic successor. 

Be Reconciled to God

As Lent approached I considered what I could do to make this Lenten season more fruitful. How could I grow closer to God and enter into Christ’s 40 days of fasting and prayer in the desert before his ultimate act of love, death on the cross? You hear all sorts of suggestions, what to give up, what to do, what not to do, etc. There are three areas that we are called to focus on; prayer, fasting and almsgiving but each of us is unique and we must personalize this journey. Giving up TV or social networking sites isn’t always a sacrifice which was highly recommended by a priest. I rarely even watch 2 hours of TV in a week or spend more than 5 minutes a day on Facebook so giving up these things wouldn’t impact me at all. Giving up something that will cause us to reflect on Christ several times a day when we deny ourselves of whatever it may be is a good choice. But no matter what we do, it should lead us into a deeper relationship with God. If we go through Lent without any conversion in our hearts than our actions are meaningless.

Do we have a desire to live a life of holiness? If so, we must repent and be reconciled to God. Reconciliation cannot occur unless we first acknowledge our sins and then seek God’s mercy. Self-knowledge is the basis of seeking forgiveness. We need to look at ourselves honestly and be willing to admit our faults, our imperfections, our willful acts and desires that allow evil to be experienced. The Sacrament of Penance is not merely the forgiveness of sins, we are called to a continual conversion, a transformation of our body and soul for the sake of unity with God and one another. We need to leave the confessional with the purpose to avoid sin, to die to the sins that imprison us through our own selfishness. One way to do this is to identify a virtue that counters the sin that we struggle with and practice that virtue. Absolution is more than a forgiveness of sin, it is the reception of us back into full communion with the Church. God longs for us to return to him with our whole heart. In today’s Psalm we pray for God mercy and we also ask him to create in us a new heart and to sustain our spirit so that we may continue to do what is right and holy in his sight.

“Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness; in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense. Thoroughly wash me from my guilt and of my sin cleanse me. For I acknowledge my offense, and my sin is before me always; against you only have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight. A clean heart create for me, O God, and steadfast spirit renew within me. Cast me not out from your presence, and your Holy Spirit take not from me. Give me back the joy of your salvation, and a willing spirit sustain in me. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall proclaim your praise.” (Psalm 51:3-6, 12-14, 17)

My Eyes Have Seen

"Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared in sight of all the peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel.” (Luke 2:29-32)

 These words were spoken by Simeon at the Presentation of our Lord after he took the infant Jesus into his arms. “It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Christ of the Lord.” (Luke 2:26) What a beautiful gift Simeon received, a promise that he would see the Christ before he died and at that moment knew that nothing more was needed in this life. He had attained what we all hope to attain one day, to behold the Lamb of God. When was this revealed to Simeon? Was he a young man at the time and now an old man who had waited many years for this promise to be fulfilled? Did he ever wonder when this was going to happen? Did he have days that seemed unbearable and he wished that God would fulfill his promise soon? We have all received a similar promise from God, that we will one day see him face to face if we remain hopeful and walk in his truth. Do we wait patiently for this promise and keep our eyes fixed on Christ as Simeon did? Or do we get caught up in the sin and drudgery of our world and feel that God has forgotten about us?

There is a tension ever present in our lives between living in this world, while also living for the kingdom which is to come. We are called to live in this world, to be the light of Christ and make visible to others the love of Christ. We are called to step into the darkness of this world so that the light of Christ within us can cast aside all that is not of Him. Yet, at the same time, we need to not get caught up in the sin and darkness of this word, to not fall into despair when our world seems to be crumbling down around us. We need to keep our eyes fixed on Christ and allow his unfailing light to lead us to eternal glory.

This morning as we celebrated the Feast of the Presentation of our Lord, there was a beautiful procession. All of the priests had a lit candle and gathered at the back of the chapel. These beautiful words were part of the introductory address to the people, “So let us also, gathered together by the Holy Spirit, proceed to the house of God to encounter Christ. There we shall find him and recognize him in the breaking of the bread, until he comes again, revealed in glory.” After the prayer, a couple of the priests lit the candles of all those who were attending Mass. We were called to be the light to the world. This was a beautiful ritual that I had never partaken in and felt so blessed to be a part of it. 

Confident and Unafraid

Confident and unafraid, these two words kept coming to mind when I was reflecting on today’s reading from Hebrews. We are reminded, “Do not throw away your confidence; it will have great recompense. You need endurance to do the will of God and receive what he has promised. We are not among those who draw back and perish, but among those who have faith and will possess life.” (Hebrews 10:35-36, 39)

 I have repeated those words several times this week, I am confident and unafraid. They have given me the strength I’ve needed to get through some challenges. Sometimes it seems like it would be easier to draw back and not “fight the good fight” but we must always move forward. As Christians we aren’t among those who draw back but are willing to lean in, to face things head on especially our fears. It is God who defeats the enemy, it is God who gives us the courage to overcome our fears. Earlier this week I was facing a difficult situation, one that brought fear and trepidation in my heart. I was tempted to back down but that would mean that the devil would win and I would be giving up something that I love just to avoid facing my fears. Attending Sing Praise at my parish is something that I love to do. It brings me much joy, renews my spirit and is an opportunity for us to come together as a community and give praise to our heavenly Father. I was tempted to give that all up so I wouldn’t have to face someone who brought much sorrow into my life. But by not backing down the devil was defeated and it was an opportunity for me to trust in God. I’ve prayed many times that when our paths crossed again (because it was bound to happen) that God would give me the grace to be at peace and He did. Of course at the end of the evening feelings had been stirred up in me, sorrow over the loss of a friendship, anger because of the betrayal and anxiety from being in his presence but God is faithful. He comforted me and helped me work through these feelings and recognize that they were fleeting and that much healing has occurred. I know the next time will be easier, it’s always that first time that is so hard. Once we get that behind us we often see that there was nothing to fear.  We should never allow the peace of Christ to be taken from us by throwing away our confidence in the One who has promised to always be with us.

“God indeed is my savior; I am confident and unafraid. My strength and my courage is the LORD, and he has been my savior.” (Isaiah 12:2)