WEEKEND LITURGY

ISAIAH 22:19-23     PSALM 138     ROMANS 11:33-36     MATTHEW 16:13-20

The passage we hear this weekend from the gospel of Matthew contains two tenets of the Catholic Church.  The words of Jesus repeated here are the basis upon which the Church is founded and built.
The dialogue goes like this.  Jesus asks His Apostles, "Who do the people say I am?"  After they tell Him, He asks, "Who do you say that I am?"  Peter speaks up and says to Jesus, "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God."  Then Jesus tells Peter with the other Apostles listening, ". . . you are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell will 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."  Thus we have the universal church - the church with Peter, the Bishop of Rome, calling the shots.

The church is not infallible - the church is not an organization but a group of people.  Just as no person is perfect - no group of people are perfect.   Whether to be part of a group is often a dilemma but I always go back to one of my favorite aphorisms:  "The only impossible tasks are the ones you try to do yourself - without help."

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