There
is a place in my hometown of Galway called An Tobar Nua (which means
The New Well), which is run by some Baptist friends of mine.
Their aim is to help people come back to their own faith, whatever
Christian group they are part of. They do great work. For
two years they asked me to give a lecture to a group of protestant
students from America who were with them for several months.
They asked me to give an overview of the development of the
Christian faith in Ireland. The idea was that they could then
ask me questions about the Catholic faith. I enjoyed it and the
questions were interesting.
They
are usually the same questions that come up: why do we ‘worship’
Our Lady? So I try to explain that we certainly don’t worship
Our Lady as this would be idolatry, but we do give her great honor
just as Jesus did. Another question is: how can a priest claim
to forgive sins? This question is a particularly interesting
one, because it brings up a lot of other things. The truth is
that the priest himself does not forgive sins, because the priest is
only a human being, but that God forgives sins through the priest.
But even this understanding, where does it come from?
You
will remember in some of the Gospel passages where Jesus said to one
or two people before he healed them, ‘Go, your sins are forgiven.’
When he said this the religious people of the time were shocked
because they said ‘Only God can forgive sins.’ Then he
showed his authority to forgive by also healing the person.
This
Gospel passage today is connected to this, because in it is the
answer to why we take the teaching of the Church seriously and also
where the power of the priesthood comes from. God the eternal
Father, revealed to Peter who Jesus really was, and straightaway
Jesus points this out to him and then appoints him as the first one
to lead his Church. Then Jesus says this extraordinary thing:
‘Whatever you bind on earth will be considered bound in heaven;
whatever you loose on earth will be considered loosed in heaven.’
And in another passage Jesus says: ‘Whatever sins you forgive will
be forgiven, whatever sins you retain will be retained.’
What
Jesus was saying was that he was giving his authority to Peter and
the Apostles, not because they had all the gifts and talents needed
to continue this movement by themselves, but because it would be God
who would work through them, teach through them and forgive through
them.
All
around us at the moment there is terrible confusion. Even all
the arguments to do with gay marriage and everyone being told they
have the right to do pretty much everything, and if they don’t then
they are being discriminated against. It is disturbing to say
the least. What are we to do about it? We have only to
stay calm and remember who it is that is guiding us, God himself.
So it is our job to stay focused on the Lord, on his teaching through
the Church and not worry about all the craziness around us which can
be both confusing and frightening as everything we believe in seems
to be being undermined. Throughout the ages this has always
been the way, but perhaps it is more 'in our face' now than usual.
‘You
are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church; and the gates of
the underworld can never prevail against it.’
Jesus
gave Peter and the apostles his authority because God himself would
be working through them and God continues to work and teach through
them and through the priesthood; to offer his forgiveness through
them and to make Jesus present in each mass through the priesthood.
I don’t know why He did this, but I believe it, and that is
enough.
It
says in the second reading ‘How impossible to understand God’s
motives!’ So much of what God does makes no sense to us,
including God’s Church and how it works. But all that is
really important is that we believe that this is from God and that it
is not from people. If I believed that this was a human
institution I can assure you I would not be here as a priest. I
am a priest because I believe God called me to be a priest and to
continue to pass on his message as best I can. I sometimes wish
He had picked someone else instead, because it is often quite
difficult, but at the same time I am very grateful because it is a
huge privilege.
So
our job is to try and be faithful to the Lord’s teaching which is
given to us through the Church and not to be afraid of the chaos that
is going on all around us in society. We keep the Lord Jesus at
the center; we keep coming back to listen to what He is teaching us
through the Scriptures and we receive Jesus continually in the
Eucharist. That is enough. It is the Lord’s Church, the
Lord’s teaching and there is nothing for us to be afraid of if we
keep focused on him.
‘You
are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church
And
the gates of the underworld will never hold out against it.’
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