Monday February 22

First Week of Lent

 

PETER’S CHAIR, Feast

Introduction

The liturgy celebrates today not so much that Peter was the bishop of Rome than what his function is. In answer to Peter’s profession of faith, Jesus appoints him the Rock on which the Church is built. As Peter himself knew very well, the shepherd is the model of his flock, dedicated to the service of the people of God.

Opening Prayer
Almighty God,
you have given us the witnessing of the apostles
as the firm rock on which we can rely.
Where Peter is, there is the Church.
But we see today that the bark of Peter is rocked;
we are often like capricious children
unused to our newfound freedom.
Make us use this freedom responsibly
and do not allow us to lose our composure.
Reassure us that you are always with us
and keep us optimistic about the future,
for it is your future
and you are our rock for ever.

Reading 1: 1 Pt 5:1-4
Beloved:
I exhort the presbyters among you,
as a fellow presbyter and witness to the sufferings of Christ
and one who has a share in the glory to be revealed.
Tend the flock of God in your midst,
overseeing not by constraint but willingly,
as God would have it, not for shameful profit but eagerly.
Do not lord it over those assigned to you,
but be examples to the flock.
And when the chief Shepherd is revealed,
you will receive the unfading crown of glory.

 

Responsorial Psalm: PS 23:1-3a, 4, 5, 6
R. (1) The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
In verdant pastures he gives me repose;
Beside restful waters he leads me;
he refreshes my soul.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
Even though I walk in the dark valley
I fear no evil; for you are at my side
With your rod and your staff
that give me courage.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
You spread the table before me
in the sight of my foes;
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
Only goodness and kindness follow me
all the days of my life;
And I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
for years to come.
R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.

 

Verse Before the Gospel: Mt 16:18
You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church;
the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.

 

Gospel: Mt 16:13-19
When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi
he asked his disciples,
“Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah,
still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
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;
and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

 

Intercessions:
– For the Church in our day, that the Holy Spirit may guide it through the present pains of renewal, keep it faithful to the Gospel and speak its message in the language of our time, we pray: Lord, remember your Church.
– For the Pope, Peter’s successor, that he may be our rock of faith and the sign of unity of the Church, we pray:
– For our bishops, that they may exercise their authority as a service to building community; for priests and religious, that they may bear witness to what they preach by their way of living the Gospel, we pray:
– For missionaries, that they may proclaim the Gospel as Good News for all and help each people and culture to encounter Christ each in their own way, we pray:
Lord, be with the Church until the end of time, as promised by Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

Prayer over the Gifts
Accept our prayer and gifts, Lord God,
and guide your Church to your safe port.
Help us to rid ourselves of the dead-weight
of cumbersome, self-made human traditions
and teach us, in a way adapted to our times,
to seek the ageless renewal given us in the Gospel
of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord for ever.

 

Prayer after Communion
Lord our God,
on this feast of your apostle Peter
you have nourished us
with the body and blood of Christ.
We pray you today:
May the unifying force of the Eucharist
dispel all unhealthy division in the Church.
May there be no unbridgeable chasms between us
but may legitimate differences of thought
lead to a deepening of our faith.
May all co-exist in peace and unity
as we seek to understand your message better.
We ask you this through Christ, our Lord.

 

Blessing
Who do we say who Christ is? With Peter we profess that he is the Christ, the Son of the living God. May Almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

 

Commentary:

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Peter’s Basilica – the Chair of Peter. It is a good opportunity to intensify our prayer of intercession for the Bishop of Rome and his “Petrine ministry” at the service of charity among all the scattered churches in the world. The liturgy of the Word that accompanies this celebration leads us to rediscover the essentials of each ministerial service within the Church, called to be the universal sacrament of salvation.

Peter in today’s gospel is given the keys and the power of binding and loosing but this power is not reserved for Peter, but is given soon after, to the whole community (Mt 18:18; cf. Jn 20:23).

Why does Jesus use this image of the keys? The rabbis were convinced that they possess the “keys of the Torah” because they knew the Scriptures. They believed that everyone had to depend on them, for doctrinal decisions and judgments. They felt entitled to discriminate between the just and unjust, between saints and sinners.

Jesus takes up this image in his harsh criticism against the scribes when he says: “A curse is on you, teachers of the Law, for you have taken the key of knowledge. You yourselves have not entered and you prevented others from entering” (Lk 11:52). Instead of opening the door of salvation, they kept them closed, not revealing to the people the true face of God and his will.

Today, Jesus announces a reversal of power. He says, the key which is abusively appropriated by the scribes, is now taken away from them and is given to the community of believers. The key that allows one to enter God’s kingdom is the faith professed by Peter. Peter and his companions now have the Mission entrusted to them to open wide the entrance to the knowledge of Christ and his gospel. Anyone who desires to walk in shall do so by using the key of faith: Profess your faith as peter did: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

As the old saying goes, “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”, the Church has failed many times to understand the role of this key of the Kingdom. Like the Rabbis of Jesus’ times, leaders of the community misunderstood “the key” as the source of power and failed to realise it as means of service. The Church, over the centuries has so many times failed to be a sign of love and unity, instead became an expression of power.

Is our Church – you and me – still wielding power and showing our might instead of being in humble service of God’s household?