How Christ accomplishes the mediation is His choice.
“Jesus then breathed on the apostles.” The only other time God did this was to give life to Adam. Breathing on the Apostles was an extraordinary occurance and only happened twice in history.
John 20 :22-23 “ And when he had said this, he breathed on them [the apostles], and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
“”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; and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” —Matthew 16:17-19
The Apostalic succession is very real and there is definitely a hierarchy that is established in this passage.
Dear Christian Friends,
I see you’re having a spirited discussion about who is ‘saved’ or not.
Since this topic concerns the legitimacy of the Catholic Church, I find
it appropriate to share this with you.
Just some good news here for the ‘good of the order.’
The joy found from a Jew discovering the Messiah is
ever new - no matter how recently it occured.
At the conclusion of WWII, the Chief Rabbi of Rome, Israel Zolli,
converted to Catholicism. His story is wonderfully told in the book
he wrote, Before the Dawn.
When asked “Why didn’t you choose one of the Protestant denominations, which are not so demanding?”, Zolli replied,
“Because protesting is not attesting.”
What an elegant testimony, a faith which professes what it
believes (attesting), rather than protesting against what it does
not believe (protestantism).
Something for our non-Catholic brothers and
sisters to consider.