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| St. Peter receiving the Keys to the Kingdom of God |
From a sermon by Saint Leo the Great, pope
The Church of Christ rises on the firm foundation of Peter’s Faith
Out of the whole world one man, Peter, is chosen to preside
at the calling of all nations, and to be set over the apostles and all the
fathers of the Church. Though there are
in God’s people many bishops and many shepherds, Peter is thus appointed to
rule in his own person those whom Christ also rules as the original ruler. Beloved, how great and wonderful is the
sharing in his power that God in his goodness has given to this man. Whatever Christ has willed to be shared in
common by Peter and the other leaders of the Church, it is only through Peter
that he has given to others what he has not refused to bestow on them.
The Lord now asks the apostles as a whole what men think of
him. As long as they are recounting the
uncertainty born of human ignorance, their reply is always the same.
But when he presses the disciples to say what they think
themselves, the first to confess his faith in the Lord is the one who is first
in rank among the apostles.
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| Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona, for flesh and blood has not revealed it to you, but my Father who is in heaven. |
Peter says: You are the Christ, the Son of the living
God. Jesus replies: Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona, for flesh
and blood has not revealed it to you, but my Father who is in heaven. You are
blessed, He means, because My Father has taught you. You have not been deceived by earthly
opinion, but have been enlightened by inspiration from heaven.
He continues: And I say to you. In other words, as
my Father has revealed to you my godhead, so I in my turn make known to you
your pre-eminence. You are Peter: though I
am the inviolable rock, the cornerstone that makes both one, the
foundation apart from which no one can lay any other, yet you also are a rock,
for you are given solidity by my strength, so that which is my very own because
of my power is common between us through your participation.
And upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall
not prevail against it. On this
strong foundation, he says I will build an everlasting temple. The great height of my Church, which is to
penetrate the heavens, shall rise on the firm foundation of this faith.
The gates of hell shall not silence this confession of
faith; the chains of death shall not bind it.
Its’ words are the words of life.
As they lift up to heaven those who profess them, so they send down to
hell those who contradict them.
Blessed Peter is therefore told: To you I will give the keys of
the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in
heaven. Whatever you loose on earth
shall be loosed also in heaven.
The authority vested in this power passed also to the other
apostles, and the institution established by this decree has been continued in
all the leaders of the Church. But it is
not without good reason that what is bestowed on all is entrusted to one. For Peter received it separately in trust
because he is the prototype set before all the rulers of the Church.
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