Good day to everyone! Happy Sunday!
Our theme for today’s reading is: Support Your Bishop
Here is our Gospel for today:
Peter Declares That Jesus Is the Messiah
‘When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of John, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be[d]loosed in heaven.” Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.’ (Matthew 16:13-20).
This part of the Gospel was already on the latter part of The Lord’s three years ministry. Long before this passage of the Gospel, in the early part of The Lord’s ministry, during the recruitment period for the twelve Apostles, Simon, son of John and brother of Andrew was already given the name Peter, which means rock, by The Lord. Listen:
“Then he took Simon to Jesus. Jesus look at him and said, ‘Your name is Simon, son of John, but you will be called Cephas.’ (This is the same as Peter and means a rock).” (John 1:42).
In other words, at the very start of The Lord’s ministry, He already identified Peter as the Apostle who will take over the leadership of the ‘Rock’ Church, which signifies strength and stability for the long term.
So far there were already 266 Popes since the time of Saint Peter. Our first ten Popes are as follows:
1. Pope St. Peter (year 32-67)
2. Pope St. Linus (67-76)
3. Pope St. Anacletus (76-88)
4. Pope St. Clement 1 (88-97)
5. Pope St. Evaristus (97-105)
6. Pope St. Alexander 1 (105-115)
7. Pope St. Sixtus (115-125)
8. Pope St. Telesphorus (125-136)
9. Pope St. Hyginus (136-140)
10. Pope St. Plus 1 (140-155)
Our recent ten Popes are the following:
257. Pope St. Pius X (1903-1914)
258. Pope Benedict XV (1914-1922)
259. Pope Pius XI (1922-1929)
260. Pope Pius XII (1929-1958)
261. Pope St. John XXIII (1958-1963)
262. Pope Paul VI (1963-1978)
263. Pope John Paul I (1978)
264. Pope St. John Paul II (1978-2005)
265. Pope Benedict XVI (2005-2013)
266. Pope Francis (2013- )
The organization of the Catholic Church is very simple. The Pope is the head. Under him are the 5133 Bishops all over the world now. Each Bishop is given a territorial jurisdiction. Under the Bishop are the Priests.
So we can see that if we want to help The Lord in His mission, we need to support our Bishops, as well as our Parish Priests.