ST. PETER & ST. PAUL

I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven.

Mt 16:13-19

COMMENTARY

“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.”

John was a prophet just like Elijah and Jeremiah. People considered Jesus as one of them. And they were wrong.

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.”

Christ is the Greek form of “Anointed”. Messiah is the Hebrew form. Peter got it right. He was able to discover who Jesus really was because the Father gave him the faith (or the “eyes”) to perceive the truth about Jesus.

In the OT the title son of God was given to angels, to faithful Israelites, to Israel itself and to the Messiah. It implied a special election from God and a special mission for the chosen one. When Christians called Jesus “Son of God”, they are declaring the Jesus is Son without equal and has a mission of saving mankind without equal.

And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church.

Now it is the turn of Jesus to tell Simon, son of Jonah, about his new responsibility. He would be the rock upon which Jesus would build his church. That is why he is to be called “Peter” or Cephas”.

The image of the rock is significant. Jesus said that a man who puts into prac-tice his teachings is a like a man who built his house on rock. When the flood came and the wind blew, the house remained standing. So also the Church will remain firm against the attacks of the powers of hell. Of course, it is not because of Peter but because of the strength given by Jesus Christ to Peter and the Church.

This passage is a recognition of the pre-eminent position of Peter in the primi-tive Church which according to Catholic tradition passed on to his successors, the Popes.

And the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.

Netherworld is Hades or in Hebrew, Sheol, the dwelling place of the dead. Jesus declares that Sheol cannot keep in death the members of his community.

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.

To be able to carry out his responsibility over the Church, Jesus gives author-ity over the Church to Peter. This is signified by the symbol of the keys. This is why the Vatican flag has the image of the keys. The statue of St. Peter often has Peter holding a set of keys.

The power of the keys means: (1) the power to permit or to prohibit, (2) the power to admit or exclude from the community of faith and kingdom of God, (3) the forgiveness of sins.

12th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (A)

So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

Mt 10:26-33

COMMENTARY

Paraphrase of the Gospel

Do not be afraid. Proclaim the Kingdom of God.

Do not allow fear of those who can only kill the body deter you from proclaiming God’s kingdom. If you have to be afraid of anyone, be afraid of God who can not only take away your life but send you to hell as well.

But you don’t have to be afraid of God because if he takes care of sparrows that are of little value, how much more will he take care of you, you who have greater value than a flock of sparrows.

Do not be afraid of publicly professing your faith in me. If you deny that you know me, I will also deny knowing you.

Explanations

Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin?

The small coin referred to is one of the smallest Roman coin used. It is called an “as”. With an as, you can buy 8 sparrows.

Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge.

There are two possible meanings. First, God is not absent when a disciple dies. A second possible meaning is: Disciples do not die for the Gospel without God permitting it. Their death is not just an incident but an event of great value.

Everyone who acknowledges me before others, I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father.

What is spoken of here is the disciple witnessing to Jesus even at cost of shedding his blood. When this happens, he is sharing in the same lot as his Master, Jesus Christ.
The witnessing is in the form of proclaiming publicly and with one’s actions that he is solidly for Jesus Christ.

But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father.

We are reminded of the betrayal of Peter: As he went out to the gate, another girl saw him and said to those who were there, "This man was with Jesus the Nazorean. Again he denied it with an oath, "I do not know the man!" A little later the bystanders came over and said to Peter, "Surely you too are one of them; even your speech gives you away." At that he began to curse and to swear, "I do not know the man." And immediately a cock crowed. (Mt 26: 71-74).
But after the Resurrection, Jesus pardoned Peter.

FOR LIFE

Fear is our emotional response to a powerful threat to one’s safety.

That emotional response triggers a behavioural response: either we flee or we are paralyzed by fear.

When I was studying theology at UST, I saw a college student running away. There was fear in his eyes. Now and then he looked back to see if anyone was following him. He was fleeing from danger.

When I was still a Brother, we went to Tagkawayan, Quezon for summer camp. While hiking along rice fields that have been harvested, a snake suddenly reared its head. It was a big one. We ran away as fast as we could. We fled from danger.

A teacher once mentioned this story. During the Japanese time, people were evacuating because of the advancing Japanese soldiers. His mother said: “Let’s just stay here together and die together.” His mother was paralyzed by fear.

A boy got a girl pregnant. He could not tell his parents what happened. He was paralyzed by fear.

Sometimes there is nothing to fear. But we scare ourselves to death. One of our priests who is a therapist related this exercise they had when he was still studying. Their professor hypnotized them. Under hypnosis, their professor told them to enter the room in their imagination and discover inside what they were afraid of. Do you know what they found inside the room of their imagination? Nothing. In other words, there was really nothing to be afraid of. But why were they afraid? Because they create monsters in their imagination.

I just recently finished two examinations. One was oral, the other written. I was anxious and afraid. In my mind, I was thinking: “What if I forget the answer to the questions? What if I was asked about something I was not able to study?” In other words, before the exams I was thinking about what could go wrong. And yet during the exams, I was able to answer all the questions pretty well. What was I doing before the exams? I was scaring myself. What I should have done was to shut out those thoughts that made me afraid.

But at other times, there is really reason to be afraid. But fear is able to overcome us because our faith is weak. If our faith is strong enough, fear will not be able to overpower us. In other words, we will be able to face and overcome our fears.

When God told Abraham to leave his father and his native land to go to a faraway land, he must have felt some fear. It is natural to fear the unknown. But because he believed that God was going with him to that faraway land, he was able to overcome that fear.

We read in Psalm 27: “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom do I fear? The LORD is my life's refuge; of whom am I afraid?

We are told that the words “Do not be afraid” can be found 365 times in the Bible, It is as if every day of the year God keeps on reminding us not to be afraid. And why should we not be afraid? Because Jesus tells us: “It is I. Do not be afraid.” Because Jesus reassures us: “And know that I am with you always till the end of the world.”

11th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (A)

Jesus sent out these twelve after instructing them thus...‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’

Mt 9:36—10:8

COMMENTARY

At the sight of the crowds, Jesus’ heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd.

The shepherd is a favourite image in the Bible. Jesus applies to himself the image of the Good Shepherd. When the Magi inquired where the Messiah was, the chief priests quoted from the prophet: “And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; since from you shall come a ruler, who is to shepherd my people Israel”.

The image of the shepherd was also applied to the kings of Israel. In 1 Chron 11:2 we read: “Then all Israel gathered about David in Hebron, and they said: "Surely, we are of the same bone and flesh as you. Even formerly, when Saul was still the king, it was you who led Israel in all its battles. And now the LORD, your God, has said to you, 'You shall shepherd my people Israel and be ruler over them.'"

In the Church, the bishops are the primary shepherds. That is why they carry a staff.

Nevertheless, we can say that anyone who is in authority should take the attitude of a good shepherd. The good shepherd takes care of his sheep. The leader looks after the welfare of those under him. May pagmamalasakit ang pastol para sa kanyang tupa. Pagmamalasakit is not just about making sacrifices for those under his care. It is also doing difficult things for them. And one of the things that is difficult to do is correcting them in a constructive way. Those who drink to get drunk is certainly doing wrong. How do you correct in a constructive way? It’s not easy.

“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”

Priests and religious are called to do pastoral work. There are not enough priests and religious to take care of the pastoral needs of Filipino Catholics not only in the Philippines but all over the world. We are, therefore, asked to pray for vocations. Why pray? Because to become a priest or religious is to follow the call of one’s heart. Only God can touch people’s hearts.

Can you do more? We can be more forgiving and understanding. We can be more appreciative. When you feel appreciated, you feel like going on.

Continue loving your priests. One Indian priest who studied at the East Asian Pastoral Institute said that he was impressed because he saw how Filipinos loved their priests. When a priest feels unloved, it is easy for him to be tempted to look for love somewhere else.

You can sense when something wrong is going on with your priest. Work with the elders of the community or the parish in discerning how you can help your priest. He might be going through a midlife crisis. He might be experiencing problems of the heart. His family might be going through some crisis and he is affected.

Then he summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness.

In St. John’s gospel, the miracles of Jesus are called signs. This is because his miracles are meant to convey a message. In the mind of the people in those days, the ability to perform extraordinary deeds of power meant that the apostles had the approval of God.

But there is more to miracles than that. The more important message is that Jesus is the promised Savior who has come to defeat sin and evil in the world and in each individual.

A Baptist relative once asked me: “Are you saved?” I was taken aback be-cause it is not a question we Catholics ask. But it is a good question to ask ourselves. And the answer is something worth reflecting on. The answers are: (1) Yes, Jesus saved me a long time ago. He has already paid the price of my redemp-tion. (2) But Jesus continues to save me because as long as I live there will be a continuing battle between good and evil in my heart. (3) And one day I hope to be definitely saved by Jesus when he welcomes me into his kingdom.

The names of the twelve apostles are these….

This is the first and only time that Matthew calls the twelve disciples, “apostles”. Apostle means someone who is sent. The name is appropriate because the reading ends this way, “Jesus sent out these twelve after instructing them thus, ‘Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town….”

FOR LIFE

What do we observe about the choice of Jesus? What we know is that Peter and Andrew and James and John are fishermen. Matthew is a tax collector. Thomas doubted the resurrection of Jesus. Judas Iscariot was a thief and the betrayer of Jesus. Externally we do not see them fit for the great responsibility of being apostles. Why did Jesus choose them?

I heard this story some time ago. They said that in Angola the children used to play with rocks and crystals along the river banks. But when the Europeans came, the Angolans were surprised to see these Europeans collecting these crystals. Later they realized that they were valuable diamonds. Of course, these diamond crystals had to be sent to Europe where they were cut and polished.

In the same way I think that Jesus saw in these twelve apostles diamonds in the rough. That is, they had potential. For three years he would develop their inner qualities until they became polished diamonds, that is, men ready to undertake the responsibility of proclaiming the good news to the ends of the earth.

The first lesson I would like to point out is this: Developing the qualities or abilities of others is a noble work. And this is the work of parents, teachers and leaders.

Hellen Keller was 19 months old when she got sick of an unknown disease. It left her blind and deaf. But when she grew up, she found a great teacher, Anne Sullivan. Anne did not only help her finish college, write books and give lectures but also become a fine woman. Anne helped Hellen Keller become a valuable diamond.

If you are a parent, teacher or leader, become God’s instrument in polishing your children, you students, those under your care into valuable diamonds.

There’s one more thing.

Why is it important for you to know what your potentials are? Why is it important for you to develop your abilities and talents? Because God gave you those talents and abilities so that you may fulfill the mission he has entrusted you to do in this world.

Why is it important to carry out that mission? It is in carrying out that mission that we achieve self-fulfilment. And with self-fulfilment comes great happiness.

When a parent says: “I can die now. My children are all settled in life”, it means he or she has achieved self-fulfilment. And he or she is happy.

When a student writes a note to his priest-friend: “Thank you for being there for me when I had problems.” the priest feels self-fulfilled in his vocation. He feels great happiness.

All of us were born for a reason, for a mission. By developing our talents and abilities we shall be able to carry out that mission well. And by fulfilling our mission in life, we shall experience self-fulfilment and happiness.

10th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.

Mt 9:9-13

Call of Matthew by Caravaggio

COMMENTARY

He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.”

Previously Jesus had already called four fishermen to follow him, Peter, Andrew, James and John. Now he calls a tax collector. Is it not intriguing why Jesus did not call anyone from a more “respectable” profession? Perhaps Jesus saw through their outward appearance. He saw in them the potential for apostolic work. And it would be the work of Jesus in their three years together to develop that potential.

Is this not the work of a teacher? Is this not the mission of a parent? To bring out the best that is already in the student, that is already in their child.

In Mark’s gospel, Matthew is called Levi, son of Alphaeus. In Luke he is merely called Levi. Matthew’s name is found in the list of the apostles. But early on there has been doubt about the identification of this Matthew with Levi. There is also doubt about this Matthew being the Matthew of the first gospel.

And he got up and followed him.

Why did Matthew leave behind a very comfortable life in order to be a disciple of Jesus? Jesus had already warned those who wanted to follow him: “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head” (Lk 9:58). Had Matthew gone mad?
We make decisions based on the values that we have. And sometimes those decisions seem foolish.

Take for instance, a janitor at the airport. He returned a bag containing a couple of thousand dollars. To him it was the natural thing to do. Yet some of his relatives who do not share the value of uprightness told him: “Are you so stupid to return that money? You could have used it for your family.”

St. Paul said to the Corinthians: “We are fools for Christ’s sake” (1Cor 4:10). Sometimes our Christian values make us do certain things which seem foolish in the eyes of the world.

While he was at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat with Jesus and his disciples.

Why were tax collectors lumped together with sinners? In the Roman Empire the office of tax collector was given to the highest bidder who then worked as an agent of the Roman government. As long as the tax collector met his quota, he could keep whatever profit he made. It is easy to imagine how tax collector en-riched themselves by squeezing whatever they can from the people. It is no won-der that the Pharisees branded them as the worst of sinners together with thieves and prostitutes.

Birds of the same feather flock together. Is it surprising to find fellow tax collectors and sinners invited to dinner by Matthew?

Tell me who your friends are and I will tell you who you are. If you want to develop a positive outlook in life, keep the company of positive people.

Parents need to get to know the friends of their children. It is enough to have only one bad companion for your child to go wrong.

The Pharisees saw this and said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

According to the teachings of the rabbis, one should not accept the invitation of a sinner. In this case what made matters worse was that Jesus was in the com-pany of not just one but many sinners. This scandalized the Pharisees.

But it was normal for Jesus to behave in ways that scandalized the religious leaders. For instance, Jesus healed on the Sabbath, something that rabbis forbade. In fact, when he healed a woman who could not stand erect for 18 years, the leader of the synagogue told the people: “There are six days in which work is to be done. Come on those days to be healed and not on the Sabbath.”

Why did Jesus behave differently? Because his beliefs are different. Regarding the Sabbath, Jesus believed that the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath.

What does this mean for us? If we want to know why we behave in certain ways, we have to find out what are the beliefs behind those behaviors. For instance, I work here and every month I send money back to the Philippines. Some of those to whom I send money do not work. Yet every month I continue sending money. Why? What is my belief that makes me send money every month? Is my belief correct?

Here is another simple example. A third year HS student said that he doesn’t go to confession because priests are also sinners. What is his belief that makes him to not go to confession? Is that belief correct?

I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.

Joseph wanted to divorce Mary quietly but an angel appeared to him in a dream and said, “Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." Right from the very beginning the mission of Jesus was made clear. He came for sinners. And at the end of his life, one of the last words of Jesus was for sinners: “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.”

Jesus had a soft heart for sinners. He even sought them out as what happened to Zacchaeus. He was on a tree, curious to see who Jesus was. And what did Jesus do? He purposely stopped in front of the tree, looked up to Zacchaeus invited himself and his disciples to his house that day. Zacchaeus was no ordinary tax collector. He was the chief tax collector. And when he expressed the desire to change his ways, Jesus happily announced: “Today salvation has come to this house. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost” (Lk 19:10).

Did Jesus come for you? If you don’t need to be saved from your sins, then Jesus did not come for you.