around 60 AD, this letter was composed as St. Peter was nearing the end of his earthly life. He had previously been in Antioch, where he

Transcription

1 Homily for 5 th Sunday of Easter, Year A 2017 (1 Pet 2:4-9) The second reading for Sunday Masses during the Easter Season this year have come from the First Letter of St. Peter. Written around 60 AD, this letter was composed as St. Peter was nearing the end of his earthly life. He had previously been in Antioch, where he served as their first bishop, before travelling to Rome to become its first bishop and set the apostolic foundation on which his successors, the Popes, would continue to serve as the Vicar of Christ in that city that would soon safeguard the bones of the Fisherman of Galilee within the Vatican Hill, that in time would become the site of the magnificent Basilica of St. Peter. As the persecution against Christians began to intensify in the city of Rome, St. Peter looked to encourage his brothers and sisters in Christ, reminding them that because of their baptism and salvation through the Blood of Christ, they had become living stones upon whom the new family of God would continue spread throughout the world. Already, the small Christian Church that was

2 born from the open side of Christ on Golgotha and set aflame by the fire of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, was beginning to grow. St. Paul was proclaiming the gospel in Asia Minor, Greece, Cyprus, Malta, and Italy. St. James looked to bring the Gospel to Spain. St. Mark, the faithful secretary of St. Peter and author of one of the gospels, would soon travel to Egypt, while St. Matthew would go further into the heart of Africa and proclaim the Good News in Ethiopia. St Thomas would be bold enough to travel to India to declare that salvation comes through Jesus Christ alone, while the remaining Apostles would venture into Persia, Armenia, and continue their apostolic work in Israel. Living Stones, formed into local churches, were being established throughout the known world, not only by the leadership and martyrdom of the 12 Apostles, but though the faith and example of men and women of every race, economic background and state of life, testifying that every Christian was and is meant to see in themselves the call to be a living stone and pillar of faith.

3 St. Peter, rejoicing that the Gospel was being proclaimed throughout the entire world, composed this letter to remind the First Christians of Rome how their ability to be living stones could only come through appreciating that the one, true foundation of the Church is Jesus Christ, the stone rejected by the builders who had become the chief cornerstone. In saying so, St. Peter makes reference to this prophetic verse from Psalm 119. It is verse that many Christians do not realize as being one of the most important messianic prophecies about Jesus Christ. During the construction of the Second Temple, a rock quarry was established outside the walls of Jerusalem. Only stones that were free of any physical defect such as cracks or water erosion could be used for the building of the Temple, since only the very best building materials were seen as worthy for the House of God. This rock quarry was found to have a large quantity of stone but a crack run through them and so these stones were rejected and the quarry abandoned.

4 In time, this rock quarry became the city dump of Jerusalem and during the Roman occupation, a place where public crucifixions would occur. It was known as Golgotha, or the place of the skull. And so, on top of this rocky edifice, upon stones that were rejected by the builders of the Jerusalem Temple, Jesus of Nazareth was rejected and crucified. Yet it was upon this site of rejected stones that the Blood of Christ sipped into the earth and established the chief cornerstone of the New Temple, not made by human hands, but fashioned from the crucified and resurrected Body of Jesus Christ. For all who are baptized into the death and resurrection of Christ, St. Peter affirmed that they would become living stones, founded on Christ who is the cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in Him will not be put to shame. But for St. Peter, something more was given to him in his own vocation as a living stone founded on the chief cornerstone, Jesus Christ. Many years before, upon a rocky mountain over looking the city of Caesarea Philippi in northern Palestine, Jesus told Simon he

5 was to be known as Cephas or in Latin Petrus, which in English translates as rock. He would be the one, steadfast, rock foundation upon which the Church of God would be built. Yes, Jesus Christ is the one, true cornerstone of the Church, but upon this foundation we find first of all Peter, the rock and chief shepherd, who was given the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and whose office as Vicar of Christ will never be vanquished by the powers of Hell and will endure to the end of time. Let us never fail to pray for the one God has deigned to be the successor of St. Peter. Let us also always understand the office of the papacy from a supernatural perspective, not giving into the modern tendency to make the Pope into a mere celebrity, political figure, or champion of social justice whom we will choose to like or dislike, support or reject, obey or disobey, based on whether or not he teaches and acts in a manner that we find acceptable.

6 In order to always maintain the right attitude towards Our Holy Father, let us ponder these insightful words of a contemporary spiritual writer: Love for the Roman Pontiff must be in us a beautiful passion, for in him we see Christ. Therefore we will not fall into the all too easy temptation of setting one Pope against another, having confidence only in those whose actions respond to our personal feelings. We are not among those who nostalgically look back to a former Pope or look forward to one in the future who will eventually dispense us from obeying the present one. Read the liturgical texts for the coronation of Pontiffs and you will notice that nowhere is there a reference to a conferral of powers proportionate to the dignity of the person elected by the conclave. Christ gives these powers directly to Peter s successor. Therefore, in speaking of the Roman Pontiff, we exclude from our vocabulary any expressions derived from parliamentary assemblies or the polemics of newspapers; let it not be said that people not of our faith should be the ones who explain the prestige of the head of Christendom in the world to us. (G. Chervot, Simon Peter)