I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven
Introduction
Optional Memorial of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, virgin and martyr
Edith Stein was the youngest of seven children in a Jewish family. She was a brilliant student and philosopher. She witnessed the faith of her Catholic friends, which led her to studying the catechism on her own, literally “reading herself into” the Faith. Edith was converted to Catholicism in Cologne, Germany, and was baptized in the cathedral church in 1922. She became a Carmelite nun in 1934, taking the name Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. She was a teacher in the Dominican school in Speyer, and lecturer at the Educational Institute in Munich. However, anti-Jewish pressure from the Nazis forced her to resign both positions. She was smuggled out of Germany, and assigned to Echt, Holland in 1938. When the Nazis invaded Holland, she and her sister Rose, also a convert to Catholicism, were captured and sent to the concentration camp at Auschwitz where they died in the ovens like countless others.
1 Reading Jeremiah 31: 31-34
The days are coming, says the LORD,
when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel
and the house of Judah.
It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers:
the day I took them by the hand
to lead them forth from the land of Egypt;
for they broke my covenant,
and I had to show myself their master, says the LORD.
But this is the covenant that I will make
with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD.
I will place my law within them, and write it upon their hearts;
I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
No longer will they have need to teach their friends and relatives
how to know the LORD.
All, from least to greatest, shall know me, says the LORD,
for I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sin no more.
Responsorial Psalm Psalm 51:12-13, 14-15, 18-19
R. (12a) Create a clean heart in me, O God.
A clean heart create for me, O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
Cast me not out from your presence,
and your Holy Spirit take not from me.
R. Create a clean heart in me, O God.
Give me back the joy of your salvation,
and a willing spirit sustain in me.
I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners shall return to you.
R. Create a clean heart in me, O God.
For you are not pleased with sacrifices;
should I offer a burnt offering, you would not accept it.
My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit;
a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
R. Create a clean heart in me, O God.
Alleluia Matthew 16:18
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church,
and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel Matthew 16:13-23
Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi
and 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.”
Then he strictly ordered his disciples
to tell no one that he was the Christ.
From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples
that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly
from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed and on the third day be raised.
Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him,
“God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.”
He turned and said to Peter,
“Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me.
You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”
Commentary
Jesus took his disciples to the area of Caesarea Philippi in northern Israel near Banias, where there was the Cave of Pan (the Roman god Faunus, half-goat, half-man). There was also a Temple built by Herod to honour the Emperor Augustus. In this political and pagan territory Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” Inspired by the Holy Spirit, Peter confessed that Jesus was God’s Son, the “Messiah” (the “anointed one”). Jesus declared Peter to be “blessed” for announcing this revelation from God. Jesus in turn affirmed Peter’s identity and mission by calling him the “rock,” the foundation of his Church. It was the rock of Peter’s faith that enabled him to follow Jesus to his own death as a martyr. Because of Peter’s new place among the Twelve, he was given the “keys” to God’s kingdom with the power to “bind” and “loose,” to allow or forbid according to God’s law. The Pope is the apostolic successor of Peter, the supreme teaching authority of the Church. When the Pope speaks on matters of faith and morals it is said that he speaks “ex cathedra” (from the Chair of Peter) and this teaching is to be held by the universal Church. The powers of evil will not prevail over the Church.
TO LOVE: Do I respect the teaching authority of the Church?
TO SERVE: Lord Jesus, help me to understand your presence in the Church.
“In essentials, unity, in doubtful matters, liberty, and in all things charity.” (Pope John XXIII, Ad Petri Cathedram, attributed to St. Augustine)
(see also: http://togetherwithgodsword.com/commentaries-on-the-daily-gospel-of-the-mass.html)