Built on Rock(y)
living allegiance to Jesus
Announcements for August 22, 2020:
If the weather holds up, our Sunday 11:00am Mass will be outside this week. I will send a text/email Sunday morning with the final word. If you haven't been receiving these texts/emails, let me know.
Our weekend Masses are: Saturday 5:15pm in the church; Sunday at 7:30am and 9:00am in the church; Sunday at 9:00am at Walmart; and Sunday at 11:00am (hopefully) outside.
Please be in touch with me if you need anything at all, or if you'd like to share any questions or concerns.
Dear Saints,
In this Sunday's Gospel passage, we hear Saint Peter profess allegiance to Jesus as God's anointed king. Jesus responds, "And so I say to you, you are Peter..."
We might miss the reference, but Jesus doesn't rename Simon for the sport of it. Rather, in proclaiming Jesus to be God's messiah - and not simply God's mouthpiece, as the crowds had come to see him - Simon becomes Peter (Cephas or, very loosely, Rocky): the foundation stone of Jesus' new building.
In the Sermon on the Mount, in the shadow of the Temple in Jerusalem, Jesus told a story about a wise man building a house on the rock. The Temple (the place where heaven and earth met, and where the gates of the netherworld could be found) was the centerpiece of God's world. Now, the Temple itself must be supplanted by the community of those who claim Christ as King.
Saint Peter himself calls us living stones, being built into a spiritual house (1 Peter 2.5). By our allegiance to Jesus - loving, trusting, and obeying him in all things - we are made to be the new Temple: the place where heaven and earth come together, the people through whom God will put his world to rights.
Even today, Peter leads this charge. That's what it means for the Pope to have the keys to the kingdom of heaven: United by Saint Peter's confession of faith, the Church animates Jesus' heaven-to-earth mission.
Jesus has called us to bring God's love to life, my friends, and he is making it happen in us and through us. I look forward to sharing the gratitude and joy of this endeavor with you soon.
Christ's Peace,
Father Daniel
δοῦλος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ
PS When we hear this Gospel passage, we'd be right to think about Papal Infallibility. Give this article a read, and let me know what you think!
Preparing for Mass?
Check out this weekend's readings:
Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
Saint Peter
Peter Paul Rubens, ca. 1610