The Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven
June 29th Readings Reflection: Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles Mass during the Day
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.
With these words, which we hear in today’s Gospel, Our Lord founded the Catholic Church. Christ appointed the Apostles to be the leaders of His Church, with St. Peter as their head representing Christ Himself. The keys to the Kingdom of Heaven have a twofold meaning, as St. Thomas Aquinas explained. In giving St. Peter the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven, Our Lord gave him the “knowledge to discern and the power to bind and loose” (Aquinas, Summa Contra Gentiles).
The grace of discernment of spirits relates directly to the infallibility of the Church’s Magisterium. Our Lord sent His Apostles the Spirit of Truth to “teach [them] all truth” (Jn 16:13 DRB). As the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Ghost preserves the Church’s Magisterium from error when solemnly teaching on matters of faith and morals. This is not to say that the Church’s members and even hierarchy are never wrong; when speaking as theologians, even the highest members of the Church’s clerical hierarchy can make errors. However, when solemnly defining doctrines of faith or morals, the Catholic Church possesses the gift of infallibility, tracing its roots to Our Lord’s words that we hear in today’s Gospel.
The power to bind and loose is the other divine power found in today’s Gospel. Christ instituted the Sacrament of Penance so that sins committed after Baptism may be forgiven. Our Lord did not intend for the power to bind and loose to belong only to St. Peter and the other Apostles; if this had been the case, as St. Thomas Aquinas pointed out, the faithful would not have been able to attain salvation throughout the millennia of the Church’s existence. All those who have the misfortune of committing a mortal sin after Baptism would have no means by which they could obtain the forgiveness of their sins if Our Lord had not ordained that the power to bind and loose be passed on to others through the Sacrament of Holy Orders.
Our Lord gave the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven to St. Peter alone, but He promised that the Church would endure until His Second Coming (see Mt 28:20). The gates of Hell shall not prevail against the Church, as Christ promised in today’s Gospel. Thus, in giving St. Peter the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven, Jesus Christ gave St. Peter the power and authority to forgive sins in Christ’s name and to pass on this authority to his successors in the priesthood. In this way, the faithful can continue to experience God’s mercy through the Sacrament of Penance, where the priest exercises his authority to bind and loose.
Every single ordained Catholic priest can trace his line of succession in Holy Orders back to the Apostles, just as every single Catholic pope can trace his line of succession directly to St. Peter. The Apostles were the first priests and bishops of the Catholic Church, and they recognized the authority of St. Peter as their earthly leader who acted under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost and with the authority of Jesus Christ Himself (see the recounting of the Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15 for an example of St. Peter leading the early Church).
On the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, the Church gives us this beautifully powerful Gospel reading as a reminder of the authority and authenticity of our Catholic Faith. The Catholic Church alone is one, holy, universal (which is the very meaning of “catholic”), and apostolic. The Catholic Church alone can trace her lineage directly to the Apostles and to Our Lord Himself. Sacred Scripture and history both prove this claim, and it is the foundation of everything that we believe as Catholics. May we never forget the truth of our belief and the divine authority that belongs to the Catholic Church alone.
I’ve been watching The Chosen season 4. The show has the name change of Peter & I’ll have to go back & see if the episode mentions the keys but after Jesus changes Peter’s name he keeps going about how he doesn’t understand what this position means. In the ancient world, “keys to the kingdom” would be phrase understood better than our current age, so the writing of the show is just silly.