Episode Transcript
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Dear friends in Christ, in today’s Gospel Passage,
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we read that when Jesus came to
the region of Caesarea Philippi,
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He enquired from His disciples
who people thought He was.
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He discovered that a considerable
number thought He was a holy person
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or a prophet of God like Jeremiah and
Moses of old, or John the Baptist.
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While their hunches
about Him were impressive,
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they were grossly inadequate.
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So Jesus turned to His disciples
to supply the missing part of the puzzle.
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Peter did supply the missing link by declaring
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that Jesus was the Christ,
the Son of the living God.
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Jesus rewarded Peter for his
intuition by assuring him
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that he was going to build His
Church on the faith he had professed.
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He promised to give him the
keys of the kingdom of heaven:
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what Peter binds on earth
would be considered bound in heaven,
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and what he shall loose on earth
would be considered loosed in heaven.
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The giving of the keys to
Peter symbolised his authority
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as the leader of the Church and
the first among the apostles.
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This authority to bind and
loose which Jesus gave to Peter,
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He also extended to the rest of His
apostles after His Resurrection.
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Authority in the Church should
be discharged through service.
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Jesus warned his disciples that
it was only through service
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that a disciple becomes great in the community.
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He advocated that all Church
leaders should imitate His example,
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for He came not to be served but to serve
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and to offer His life for
the redemption of the world
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To be in authority does not
mean that one is faultless.
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Hence, Jesus promised to pray for Peter,
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and He asked him to encourage
his brothers and sisters
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after he had recovered from betraying
Him by denying that he knew Him
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Authority in the Church is to guide
and protect the deposit of faith.
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Those in authority should always listen
to the voices of the people of God.
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But we should also realise
that being in a majority
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is not synonymous with being right.
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In our individualistic world of today
where relativism is the order of the day,
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authority in the Church ensures that our
core Catholic beliefs are safe guarded.
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But those in authority must be
on their guard that authority
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does not degenerate into authoritarianism.
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God Bless you all!
