“Wonderful indeed must it have been to St. Peter to feel suddenly that His Lord’s power was his.” (God Calling, by A.J. Russell, March 2nd entry)
Peter was the disciple of Our Lord who denied Him three times to all would listen. He was also the disciple who was tested by Our Lord. When he was asked by Jesus, “Do you love me?”, Peter had to answer the question three times, as if the Lord were gently reminding him of His denial. In Peter’s heart he must have wondered over and over again why Jesus, The Christ, would choose him to not only serve, but to lead His church on earth after His death and Resurrection.
Jesus also changed his name from Simon to Peter. “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18) Jesus then gave Peter the power to lead on His behalf. “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 16:19)
One can only imagine what must have been going through Peter’s mind during all of this. He had to be thinking, “Not me, Lord. I am unworthy for such a responsibility for I cannot be trusted.” But Jesus was not detoured, for He knew Peter’s heart. He handed Him the keys to the kingdom of heaven knowing full well that they would one day be reunited there.
Wonderful indeed Peter must have felt when he suddenly realized that Our Lord’s Power was His; that he could bind and lose the sins of man, that he was to become the keeper of the traditions Jesus would institute for all men, namely the Eucharist. Peter, as leader, was to shepherd, protect and prosper Jesus’ mission on earth, His Church, which was to welcome all sinners home, to save all who would hear and believe in Him, His death, and His Resurrection. All of this power, knowledge, and trust would be handed down by Peter, and his successors as Pope, from generation to generation. We are now at 2,000 years and counting.
I believe in the words of Jesus, that the gates of Hades shall not prevail against His Church. As a Catholic, I eagerly await and pray for the next successor, the new Pope. May God’s Holy Spirit bless the Cardinals in the conclave with wisdom and discernment in choosing the next shepherd of The Catholic Church.
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