Daily Mass Gospel Reflection - Charism

Word on Fire Ministry ^ | 08-04-22 | Bishop Robert Barron

[MurphsLaw]

MEMORIAL OF SAINT JOHN VIANNEY, PRIEST

MATTHEW 16:13–23

Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus asks his disciples that devastating question:
“But who do you say that I am?” But the disciples don’t speak.
Are they afraid? Perhaps. Finally, Simon Peter speaks:
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
You are the Mashiach, the “anointed one,” the long-awaited Savior;
but more to it, you are the Son of God, not just a human hero.
This is the mystical faith that stands at the heart of Christianity.
To hold this Petrine faith is to be a Christian;
to deny it is to deny Christianity.

And then those amazing words of Jesus:
“Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.”
This insight did not come from Simon’s own intelligent speculation.
It came from above, through grace, from God.
And this is why Peter is a rock.

The Church is built not on a worldly foundation of any kind but on a mystical foundation,
born of Peter’s faith in the revealing God.
The Church is neither democratic nor aristocratic—it is charismatic.
And this is where its power comes from.

[MurphsLaw]

+++Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi
and he asked his disciples,
"Who do people say that the Son of Man is?"
They replied, "Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah,
still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"
Simon Peter said in reply,
"You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
Jesus said to him in reply,
"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.
Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven;
and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."
Then he strictly ordered his disciples
to tell no one that he was the Christ.

From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples
that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly
from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed and on the third day be raised.
Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him,
"God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you."
He turned and said to Peter,
"Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me.
You are thinking not as God does,
but as human beings do."+++