You are Peter
Gospel Reflection for May 29, 2024: Optional Memorial for St. Paul VI, Pope.
“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.” Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.” Matthew 16:15-17
Today, in the liturgical calendar of the Latin Rite, we have the optional observance for Pope St. Paul VI. The Gospel for today is one of the most important for Catholics as it is the Confession of St. Peter. Many times, we reflect on the all-important line that Peter is made the Rock of the Church, and therefore, the first Pope. This is why this particular Gospel is read on the memorial of a sainted pope. Without reducing the importance of that line, I want to focus on the two immediately before it, quoted above.
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Christ asks His apostles who He is. This comes on the heels of Him inquiring about the same question regarding the people. The people are reported as saying that they believe Christ to be a prophet raised from the dead. While Christ is the perfection of the prophets, this response still falls short of Who and What, Christ is. The Twelve are then asked, to which, the twelve as a group, do not answer. It is only one of the twelve, Simon, who answers that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ and also the Son of the Living God. This is a two-part answer. First, Simon confesses Jesus of Nazareth to be the long-awaited Messiah (Christ). This is certainly an important confession, though one that was made about other individuals during that time. Perhaps there were other people who also believed that Jesus was the Christ. I don’t think Peter’s confession that Jesus was the Christ was entirely out of the question at the time. It is the second part of his confession, when paired with the first, that is the astonishing confession. Simon confidently calls Jesus the Christ who IS the SON of the living GOD!
This confession is unlike any other confession before it. Many people were thought to have been the Messiah of the Jewish people but none of them were considered divine. The Jews didn’t necessarily believe that the Messiah would be Divine. They believed that he would be a human warrior sent to free them from earthly oppression. It is here, at the intersection of Jesus’ identity as both Messiah and Son of God, that we find the supernatural character of Simon’s confession. He confesses that Jesus of Nazareth is God Incarnate. Christ’s reply to Simon shows exactly why the Church being founded on Peter, the Rock, is significant.
“Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.” Christ affirms to Peter that it was not the external flesh and blood that revealed to him that Christ was the Son of God. It wasn’t miracles or preaching. It wasn’t exorcisms or healings. These are divine actions, but they are manifested through the human nature of Christ which was used as an instrument for the Divine Person.1 Everybody saw these actions, especially the other eleven apostles, and yet, no other person confessed Christ to be the Son of the Living God. Why is this? Christ tells us. This truth, this Divine Revelation, is not from the flesh and blood before them, it is from the Father only. Christ is revealing a very important truth. The Father chose Peter, specifically and uniquely, to be the bearer of this Revelation. He could have chosen any of the twelve. He could have chosen any other human being. He could have decreed that Christ, Himself, make that confession, and thus circumvent the entire purpose of a Pope. Instead, the Father chose this simple fisherman, to pronounce the most important Revelation to mankind: The Messiah has come, and He is the Divine Second Person of the Trinity, God Incarnate.
This is why Simon Peter is Blessed. He was divinely chosen by God to be the Rock that the church is built upon. To deny that Peter holds the keys is to disregard all that Christ says here.
For 2000 years, the line of St. Peter has remained unbroken. Good or bad, there has been a pope seated on the throne and this will continue until the second coming. One such successor was St. Paul VI, whose memorial is today. Of all that he did, I want to mention one monumental gift to the church, that is the encyclical Humanae Vitae. This encyclical, promulgated in 1968, became one of the most important of that last century. It addressed the Church’s response to the newly invented Birth Control Pill and reaffirmed the Church’s teaching against the use of Artificial Contraception. St. Paul VI authoritatively teaches:
“Therefore, We base Our words on the first principles of a human and Christian doctrine of marriage when We are obliged once more to declare that the direct interruption of the generative process already begun and, above all, all direct abortion, even for therapeutic reasons, are to be absolutely excluded as a lawful means of regulating the number of children. Equally to be condemned, as the magisterium of the Church has affirmed on many occasions, is direct sterilization, whether of the man or of the woman, whether permanent or temporary. Similarly excluded is any action which either before, at the moment of, or after sexual intercourse, is specifically intended to prevent procreation—whether as an end or as a means.”2
St. Paul VI is very clear here. Catholics are absolutely forbidden from using artificial contraception as it violates both the unitive and procreative ends of marriage. This is an exercise of his authority as the successor of St. Peter as today’s Gospel affirms for us:
“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.” Matthew 16:19
What Peter declares on earth is declared in heaven. What he, in the areas of faith or morals, binds the faithful to on this earth also binds them in heaven. This is a divine institution. As Catholics, we cannot pick and choose what we want to follow and what we want to leave on the side due to convenience or personal preference. We are called to humbly submit to the magisterium knowing that it is not the maker of these laws, but instead, is their guardian and interpreter.3
On this memorial, let us ask the intercession of St. Paul VI to help the modern church more perfectly conform to the moral laws of God, understanding that it is only in doing the Good, that we are truly free.
For reference here, it is important to note that a fundamental part of Christology is that Jesus Christ is a Divine Person who assumes a human nature. This means that the human nature has no subsistence on itself but, instead, subsists in the Divine Person. This is easy enough to understand considering that the Divine Person of the Son has always existed and that the human nature which He assumes is created at the moment of the Incarnation. Further, St. Thomas tells us that the human nature is used as an instrument of the Divine. He says, “Nevertheless, the Divine Nature makes use of the operation of the human nature, as of the operation of its instrument; and in the same way the human nature shares in the operation of the Divine Nature, as an instrument shares in the operation of the principal agent.” Summa Theologiae IIIa q. 19, a. 1.
Pope St. Paul VI, Humanae Vitae, 14.
Cf. HV, 18.