Thursady August 6, 2009

Thursday August 6, 2009 of the 18th Week of Ordinary Time
Readings: Numbers 20: 1-13 Psalm 95: 1-2, 6-9 Matthew 16: 13-23
Psalm Response: “If today you hear His voice, harden not your hearts”

After they had rebuked the Lord and Moses by refusing God’s order to attack the Canaanites and possess the land which He had given them, they were relegated to spend the rest of their days in the desert.
They continued their railing against Moses and God because they assumed they would have plenty to eat and drink, although under the thumb of the Egyptians.
God heard their plea of thirst! So, while Moses and Aaron prostrated themselves at the entrance of the meeting tent, God’s presence was made known by the column of smoke appearing thereby.
God then instructed Moses to take the staff he had used to plague the Egyptians and strike the rock nearby. Moses did as God had directed but he struck the rock twice and water sprung from the rock, enough to slake their thirst and all their animals as well.
Because Moses struck the rock twice instead of just once it was taken to mean Moses was the instigator of the water rather than God. Therefore, Moses was not to ever enter into the land promised by God to house the people. Thus Moses also was denied the promise of God to be the tenants of God in the land He had given them.

The pslam and response reminded the sojourners and their ancestral tribes of the action of their ancestors when they railed against Moses and God in the desert. Meribah and Massah became the symbols of disobedience. This psalm therefore, became the constant morning prayer of all religious since the time the Liturgy of the Hours became the norm of prayer for them.

As a prefigure of God’s intent to bring the Gentles into the fold of His chosen people, Jesus took the opportunity, while in Pagan territory to establish His universal Church.
It was here in Caesarea Philippi, Christ asked who the people thought He was. Various titles were given in answer. When He asked His Apostles Who He was, Peter chimed in with, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Christ knew Peter didn’t have the smarts to know this fact of himself, so He recognized the Holy Spirit’s movement in Peter’s statement. Therefore, He named Simon as Kepha, the “Rock”, the solid foundation on which He would build His Church with the authority to bind and loose, to forgive sin, the source of our salvation.
The “Keys of the Kingdom” were the symbol of the authority of Jesus when He was not personally present. Some sects deny Peter was God’s choice. But they are wrong! To deny the Pope’s role in establishing the norms of Faith and Morals is to deny God’ prerogative in everything, therefore limiting His ability to chose whom He will.