Day 123: The Pope (880-887)

• It’s Day 123!!

• THE EPISCOPAL COLLEGE AND ITS HEAD, THE POPE

• The Episcopal College refers to the communion of the bishops

• The HEAD of the Episcopal College is the Bishop of Rome

• THE POPE!!

• Today we are talking about the bishops united with the Holy Father

• The ROLE of the Holy Father that he has been UNIQUELY ASSIGNED BY JESUS CHRIST

• The Holy Father is the SUCCESSOR OF ST. PETER

• Jesus gave St. Peter the office of BINDING AND LOOSING in a VERY UNIQUE WAY

• It was also shared with the other Apostles united to the head, St. Peter

• IT IS REMARKABLE!!

• We have that even today

• The bishops are the heads of their own diocese

• They are the successor of the apostle in their own diocese

• They have a great amount of authority

• It is always necessitated to be united with the Holy Father in Rome, the Vicar of Christ

• It’s dense

• BUT…

• Every paragraph is kind of like a MCNUGGET

• It’s not really because MCNUGGETS are the summaries

• We all know that

• What are the bishops?

• What do the bishops do?

• What is the Pope?

• What does the Pope do?

• So let’s say a prayer!!

Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven, we give you praise and glory. Thank you that through your Son and by the Power of the Holy Spirit you established your Church. Thank you for selecting Simon, the fisherman, and making him your Vicar on Earth, making him the Al Habayit, making him that prime minister, making him the Pope. Thank you for giving him that role and for continuing that by the Power of your Holy Spirit down to this day that visible sign of unity. Thank you so much, Lord. And also thank you for giving us the Apostles and their successors, the bishops. Right now, Lord God, we want to lift up every individual bishop. That every person who is listening will just lift up before you every one of those bishops that are our bishops. We ask that you please continue to guide them. Continue to sanctify them. Continue to protect them. That they can lead us well. That they can teach us well. That they can sanctify us through their office. Lord God, make them holy. And by doing so, extend that holiness to your people as well. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen”

• So there we have it!!

• A lot of the nuts and bolts about the Papacy and the office of the bishops 

• IT’S SO GOOD!!

• We have this VISIBLE CHURCH that Christ instituted

• Jesus did not say, “Hey, just go out and do whatever!”

• Jesus actually called to Himself those whom He chose and wanted

• We know this from Scripture

• Among them, He chose St. Peter to be the HEAD

• Paragraph 881 says, “The Lord made Simon alone, whom he named Peter, the ‘rock’ of his Church.”

• This comes from Matthew 16:18-19

• Simon’s name was Simon and he was the brother of Andrew

• He went to this place called Caesarea Philippi which is about 29 miles north of Capernum, Jesus’ home base for so much of His ministry

• If you walk up to Caesarea Philip you see this massive rock which is a couple hundred feet high

• Build into that rock were numerous temples at the time

• Jesus asked the question, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”

• The Apostles answered, “Some say Elijah. Some say John the Baptist come back from the dead. Some say one of the prophets.”

• None of those answers are right

• So Jesus asks, “Who do YOU say that I am?”

• Simon stood up and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”

• Jesus responds, “Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my Father in Heaven. Therefore, you shall be called Peter because on this ROCK I will build my Church and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it.”

• This is remarkable for so many reasons

• In Scripture, whenever someone’s name is CHANGED they are given a NEW MISSION

• Name is SO CONNECTED to identity

• Name is SO CONNECTED to mission

• Jesus is changing Simon’s name to ROCK which in Aramaic is CEPHAS

• In Latin it would be PETROS

• So his NAME is changed

• His MISSION is changed

• His IDENTITY is changed

• “Upon this rock I will build my Church. I will give you the keys to the Kingdom. What you bind on earth will be bound in Heaven. What you loose on earth will be loosed in Heaven.”

• THAT is a direct reference to the Book of the Prophet Isaiah

• Where it talks about the OFFICE and the OLD COVENANT

• The role of the KING and Jesus is the KING

• Scripture and the Gospel of Matthew makes that INCREDIBLY CLEAR

• The Old Testament had a role that served the King

• THE AL HABAYIT

• The one who is OVER THE HOUSE

• THE PRIME MINISTER

• Isaiah Ch 21 describes the role of the Al Habayit, the Prime Minister

• Part of his role is that what he opens, no one shall shut

• What he shuts, no one shall open

• He has the keys to the Kingdom of David on his shoulder

• There are all these MASSIVE CONNECTIONS between what Jesus is saying to Simon, now called Peter/Cephas, and what was written in The Book of the Prophet Isaiah 

• All those Apostles standing around would have known EXACTLY what Jesus was doing

• Jesus was making their BUDDY their LEADER

• There is this DIGNITY among ALL BELIEVERS

• There is UNITY in that DIGNITY

• There is UNITY in BELONGING TO THE COVENANT

• BUT…

• There are also ROLES in that Old Covenant

• One of those roles is the Al Habayit

• In the New Covenant there is UNIQUE DIGNITY SHARED BY ALL BELIEVERS

• AND YET…

• There is a ROLE

• The ROLE that Jesus specifically gives to Peter to be the Al Habayit

• Paragraph 881 continues, “He gave him the keys of his Church and instituted him shepherd of the whole flock.”

• THIS IS SO IMPORTANT!!

• What happens at the end of the Gospel of John?

• Jesus is Risen from the dead

• Peter and his brother and some other folks are out fishing on the Sea of Galilee

• They see Jesus on the shore and Peter jumps into the water and swims to shore

• Jesus makes them breakfast of fish on a charcoal fire

• What happens then?

• Jesus says, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?”

• Peter says, “Yes, Lord, I love you.”

• Jesus responds, “Feed my sheep.”

• Jesus asks a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”

• Peter again responds, “Yes, Lord, I love you.”

• Jesus responds, “Tend my lambs.”

• Jesus asks a third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”

• Peter is aggrieved that Jesus asks a third time if he loved Him

• Jesus responds, “Tend my sheep.”

• We can be tempted to think that Jesus chose Peter in Matthew Ch 16 but then he LOST that when he denied Jesus and ran away

• BUT…

• In John’s Gospel, Jesus is not giving any indication that Peter lost his ROLE AS SHEPHERD after his denial

• IN FACT…

• Jesus not only reiterated this role, but He KNEW this was going to happen

• Remember in The Gospel of Luke, Peter said he would suffer and die with Jesus

• Jesus says to Peter, “Satan has decided to sift all of you like wheat. But I have prayed for YOU, Peter, that after you have returned you may strengthen your brethren.”

• All along the way, Jesus keeps giving Peter this UNIQUE ROLE

• The same God that gave Peter this UNIQUE ROLE is the SAME GOD who continues to call HIS SUCCESSORS for the SAME UNIQUE ROLE

• THE ROLE OF BINDING AND LOOSING

• THE ROLE OF GOVERNING

• THE ROLE OF SANCTIFYING

• THE ROLE OF LEADING

• THAT IS WHAT WE BELIEVE!!

• At the same time, the Roman Pontiff is a fancy term 

• PONTIFF means BRIDGE

• PONTIFEX means BRIDGE BUILDER

• So it’s NOT like the Lord

• JESUS IS THE LORD!!

• The Pope is NOT the Lord

• The Pope is the SERVANT OF THE SERVANTS OF GOD

• He is united with the bishops

• THAT IS REMARKABLE!!

• Paragraph 886 says, “‘The individual bishops are the visible source and foundation of unity in their own particular Churches.’ As such, they ‘exercise their pastoral office over the portion of the People of God assigned to them,’ assisted by priests and deacons. But, as a member of the episcopal college, each bishop shares in the concern for all Churches. The bishops exercise this care first ‘by ruling well their own Churches as portions of the universal Church,’ and so contributing ‘to the welfare of the whole Mystical Body, which, from another point of view, is a corporate body of Churches.’”

• Your local bishop is the VISIBLE SOURCE AND FOUNDATION OF UNITY in their diocese

• In many ways it is similar to the way the Pope exercises this pastoral office over the WHOLE WORLD

• The bishop exercises this pastoral office over the WHOLE DIOCESE

• As your local bishop serves his local community more and more and better and better, then the more and more the WHOLE BODY is strengthened

• St. Paul said, “As one member of the whole body is strengthened, the whole body is strengthened. When one member grows weak, the whole body suffers.”

• That’s one of the many reasons all of us are called to work together and to continue to strive to grow in holiness

• BUT…

• WE HAVE TO PRAY FOR OUR BISHOPS!!

• So they can continue to lead us well

• So they can continue to serve us well

• When one member of the body is strengthened, we are all strengthened

• So pray for each one of our bishops, priests, brothers, sisters, and for each other

• When any one person listening to this, when you are strengthened, you strengthen the whole Church

• When we are weakened by sin, in some mysterious way the Church weakens

• So let’s pray for each other

• WE HAVE TO!!

• Pray for the bishops

• Pray for those who serve us

• Pray for those who lead us

• Pray for each other

• Fr. Mike is praying FOR YOU!!

• Please pray for Fr. Mike and for each other!!

• I cannot WAIT to see you tomorrow!!