Pope St Leo the Great – and the call of Peter
Matthew 16:13-19
When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
The Gospel of the Lord ….
The Mass intention is a Novena Mass
What’s in a name?
My name is not what’s on my passport – it is what others call me.
Teresa, Val and Pietro are names; but so are Mum, Sir – and Hey, You.
A name is a gift that means me.
Jesus knows Peter,
he asks “Who do you say that I am?”
Peter closes his eyes and answers:
“Your the one we’ve waited for; the Messiah – the Son of Living God!”
This frightening acknowledgement of truth changes Peter, for ever.
What I say is a gift that gives me away.
Jesus looks at Peter with open eyes.
“Shi’mon – Simeon – isn’t your name anymore.”
Remember Simeon the nastiest of the sons of Jacob?
Kills a lot of helpless people at Shechem (Genesis 32:25-29).
Simeon can mean the listener
but is also slang for little hyena – and greasy
“Simeon and Levi are brothers—they get violent with their swords.
Don’t let me enter their council, or join their company,
they’ve killed people in their anger and hamstrung oxen as the fancy took them.
Their ferocious anger is cursed, and their cruel fury!
I will scatter them… (Genesis 49:5-7)
Jesus looks at the greasy hyena who is listening to him
“You are Peter, the rock, on whom I am going to build my church.”
The Lord can change me as he changed Peter.
I ask him to give me a new name,
I beg him not to let me fall back into violence
like Peter in Gethsemane, laying about him with his sword, (Matthew 26;21-22)
As I lay about my with my sharpened words.
Give me a new name now,
so that, one day in heaven, you can give me my own name, forever (Revelation 2:17)
