From: Matthew 16:13-23:
Peter's Profession of Faith and His Primacy
[13] Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He
asked His disciples, "Who do men say that the Son of Man is?" [14] And
they said, "Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others
Jeremiah or one of the prophets." [15] He said to them, "But who do
you say that I am?" [16] Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the
Son of the living God." [17] And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you,
Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, by
My Father who is in Heaven. [18] And I tell you, you are Peter, and on
this rock, I will build My Church, and the powers of death shall not
prevail against it. [19] I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of
Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven, and
whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven." [20] Then He
strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that He was the Christ.
Jesus Foretells His Passion and Resurrection
[21] From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go
to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests
and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. [22] And
Peter took Him and began to rebuke Him, saying, "God forbid, Lord!
This shall never happen to You." [23] But He turned and said to Peter,
"Get behind Me, Satan! You are a hindrance to Me; for you are not on
the side of God, but of men."
Commentary:
13-20. In this passage St. Peter is promised primacy over the whole
Church, a primacy which Jesus will confer on him after His
Resurrection, as we learn in the Gospel of St. John (cf. John
21:15-18). This supreme authority is given to Peter for the benefit of
the Church. Because the Church has to last until the end of time, this
authority will be passed on to Peter's successors down through
history. The Bishop of Rome, the Pope, is the successor of Peter.
The solemn Magisterium of the Church, in the First Vatican Council,
defined the doctrine of the primacy of Peter and his successors in
these terms:
"We teach and declare, therefore, according to the testimony of the
Gospel that the primacy of jurisdiction over the whole Church was
immediately and directly promised to and conferred upon the blessed
Apostle Peter by Christ the Lord. For to Simon, Christ had said, `You
shall be called Cephas' (John 1:42). Then, after Simon had
acknowledged Christ with the confession, `You are the Christ, the Son
of the living God' (Matthew 16:16), it was to Simon alone that the
solemn words were spoken by the Lord: `Blessed are you, Simon
Bar-Jona. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My
Father who is in Heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this
rock I will build My Church, and the powers of Hell shall not prevail
against it. I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and
whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven, and what you loose
on earth shall be loosed in Heaven' (Matthew 16:17-19). And after His
Resurrection, Jesus conferred upon Simon Peter alone the jurisdiction
of supreme shepherd and ruler over His whole fold with the words, `Feed
My lambs....Feed My sheep' (John 21:15-17) [...].
"(Canon) Therefore, if anyone says that the blessed Apostle Peter was
not constituted by Christ the Lord as the Prince of all the Apostles
and the visible head of the whole Church militant, or that he received
immediately and directly from Jesus Christ our Lord only a primacy of
honor and not a true and proper primacy of jurisdiction: let him be
condemned.
"Now, what Christ the Lord, Supreme Shepherd and watchful guardian of
the flock, established in the person of the blessed Apostle Peter for
the perpetual safety and everlasting good of the Church must, by the
will of the same, endure without interruption in the Church which was
founded on the rock and which will remain firm until the end of the
world. Indeed, `no one doubts, in fact it is obvious to all ages, that
the holy and most blessed Peter, Prince and head of the Apostles, the
pillar of faith, and the foundation of the Catholic Church, received
the keys of the kingdom from our Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior and the
Redeemer of the human race; and even to this time and forever he
lives,' and governs, `and exercises judgment in his successors' (cf.
Council of Ephesus), the bishops of the holy Roman See, which he
established and consecrated with his blood. Therefore, whoever
succeeds Peter in this Chair holds Peter's primacy over the whole
Church according to the plan of Christ Himself [...]. For this reason,
`because of its greater sovereignty,' it was always `necessary for
every church, that is, the faithful who are everywhere, to be in
agreement' with the same Roman Church [...].
"(Canon) Therefore, if anyone says that it is not according to the
institution of Christ our Lord Himself, that is, by divine law, that
St. Peter has perpetual successors in the primacy over the whole
Church; or if anyone says that the Roman Pontiff is not the successor
of St. Peter in the same primacy: let him be condemned [...].
"We think it extremely necessary to assert solemnly the prerogative
which the only-begotten Son of God deigned to join to the highest
pastoral office. And so, faithfully keeping to the tradition received
from the beginning of the Christian faith, for the glory of God our
Savior, for the exaltation of the Catholic religion, and for the
salvation of Christian peoples, We, with the approval of the sacred
council, teach and define that it is a divinely revealed dogma: that
the Roman Pontiff, when he speaks "ex cathedra", that is, when, acting
in the office of shepherd and teacher of all Christians, he defines, by
virtue of his supreme apostolic authority, doctrine concerning faith or
morals to be held by the universal Church, possesses through the divine
assistance promised to him in the person of St. Peter, the
infallibility with which the divine Redeemer willed His Church to be
endowed in defining doctrine concerning faith or morals; and that such
definitions of the Roman Pontiff are therefore irreformable because of
their nature, but not because of the agreement of the Church.
"(Canon) But if anyone presume to contradict this our definition (God
forbid that he do so): let him be condemned" (Vatican I, "Pastor
Aeternus", chaps. 1, 2 and 4).
23. Jesus rejects St. Peter's well-intentioned protestations, giving us
to understand the capital importance of accepting the cross if we are
to attain salvation (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:23-25). Shortly before this
(Matthew 16:17) Jesus had promised Peter: "Blessed are you, Simon"; now
He reproves him: "Get behind me, Satan." In the former case Peter's
words were inspired by the Holy Spirit, whereas what he says now comes
from his own spirit which he has not yet sloughed off.
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.
Thursday August 5, 2004 Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Reading (Jeremiah 31:31-34) Gospel (St. Matthew 16:13-23)
In the first reading today, we have an extremely important prophecy from the prophet Jeremiah. God speaks through His prophet and says, The days are coming when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel. The Old Covenant, which was written in stone, the covenant made with Moses that the people had been following all this time, as well as the covenant made with Abraham, was what the people thought was going to be their salvation. Yet, as we know from what Saint Paul tells us, nobody was justified by the law because no one could follow it perfectly. And so the days were going to come when God was going to make a new covenant, and He was going to write His law in their hearts and in their minds. He has done exactly that. That new covenant, of course, is Christ.
So He asks His disciples, Who do you say that I am? and Peter is able to make that astounding act of faith, revealed to him by God the Father, to be able to say, You are the Christ, the Son of God. Just think about what those words mean – “The Son of God” – He is the Second Person of the Trinity. Remember, the Jewish people believed that there was only one person in God, so for Peter to be able to make this statement is quite astounding, but also that Jesus is going to turn right around and tell Peter, You are rock, and on this rock I will build My Church, because if there is going to be a new covenant, there is going to be a new form of worship and there is going to be a new people of God that is established. And that is exactly what Jesus is doing. But shortly after Peter makes this act of faith, he refuses to accept what Jesus has to do to be able to fulfill His work as the Messiah. He does not want Jesus to have to suffer and to die, and he begins to rebuke Our Lord. Jesus has to turn on him and say, Get behind Me, Satan! You are not thinking as God does, but as men do.
Now this is an important thing for us. We know that Jesus is the covenant. We know that He has founded a Church. We know that He has given the Church everything in the sacraments and in Her teaching, yet all too often we do exactly what Peter did and we fail to see the Church as being divine. We see it only as some sort of human institution. No doubt, the Church is filled with sinners, and therefore it is filled with men who are going to do some pretty stupid things – and they have for 2,000 years; that has not changed. But if all we do is look at the sins of the priests and the bishops, as well as the people who make up the Church, then we are going to fail to see the reality. If all we did was look at the humanity of Jesus, we could never, ever say, “You are the Son of God. You are the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity.” The humanity is true – He is also the Son of Man – but He is the Son of God. If we are going make our profession of faith to be able to say that Jesus Himself founded the Church, the Church therefore is Jesus Christ. The Church is not a human institution; the Church is a divine institution. And so we do not get caught just looking at the humanity, and therefore the weakness, of the people who make up the Church; but what we have to focus on is the divinity.
We have to be able to recognize that we are incorporated into this new covenant and that we no longer live according to mere human standards. We are called to live according to divine standards. We have been made members of Jesus Christ, which means we are no longer merely human but we share in the divine nature, we share in the divine life. We are called to live holy lives as members of a holy Church. That is exactly what Saint Peter tells us and he quotes what Moses is saying to the people: You are a chosen race; you are a royal priesthood; you are a people set apart. God has chosen you for Himself, and He does not want you just to be set aside so that you can live your human life. He wants you set aside so that even in this world you can live a divine life, so that you can live a holy life. You are not God, obviously, but you share in the very nature of God Himself. And if all we do within our own selves is look at the humanity, we are failing to be able to recognize the fullness of the truth that God has written in our hearts and in our minds. We somehow think that we cannot live the way Christ has told us to live because we are only human. That is not true. We can live the way that God created us to live because we have the fullness of the truth, because we have the sacraments, because we are incorporated into Christ, because we share in His divine nature. It is not something which is beyond us. On the natural level, yes, it is completely beyond us; but that is the nature of the new covenant: that we can live the way God created us to live. But it is to make the same act of faith as Peter did, and then put it into practice; instead of doing what Peter did and make the act of faith and then turn around and think that it cannot happen the way God wants it to be, in fact, the way God has made things to be.
So if we are going to make this act of faith, we need not only to look at the humanity of Christ, but we need to keep firmly in mind the divinity of Christ, the divinity of the Church, and the divinity at work within our own selves. Therefore, we must live according to that truth. We must see things in that light and we must live in that light. This is purely a gift. It is nothing that we have done; it is nothing that we have deserved. It is going to be easy to sit back and say, “Oh, no, I’m too much of a sinner. I can’t do that.” That is not true. If it were up to us, if it were by our own power and our own ability, yes, that would be true. It is a gift, and it is by God’s power that this is happening in you. It is by God’s grace that you are able to live according to the way of Jesus Christ. That is not to be merely human; it is to be raised up to a divine level of acting and of being. You have that ability because of the promises God has made through the prophet to give us a new covenant. That new covenant is Christ, and you have been incorporated into that covenant so that you can make that same act of faith: You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God. You have been incorporated into Him so that He can continue to live His life in this world in and through you.
Reading I 
Of all the great Roman Basilicas, this is the most successful blend of different architectural styles. The cosmatesque marble floor and delightful Romanesque bell tower, with its blue ceramic roundels, are medieval. The Renaissance saw a new coffered ceiling and the Baroque gave the church twin domes and its imposing front and rear façades. The mosaics are S. Maria’s most famous feature.