Ceiling of Cathedral of Sts Peter and Paul
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Today’s feast [Sts. Peter and Paul] offers me the opportunity to meditate once again on Peter’s confession, the decisive moment in the journey of the disciples with Jesus. The synoptic gospels have it take place in the district of Caesarea Philippi (see Matthew 16:13-20; Mark 8:27-30; Luke 9:18-22).
John, for his part, keeps for us another important confession by Peter, after the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and Jesus’ address in the synagogue of Capernaum (see John 6:66-70). Matthew, in the text just proclaimed, recalls Jesus’ attribution of the nickname Cephas, “Rock,” to Simon. Jesus said that he desired to build his Church “on this rock” and with this in view, conferred on Peter the power of the keys (Matthew 16:17-19). It clearly emerges from these accounts that Peter’s confession is inseparable from his pastoral duty to Christ’s flock which was entrusted to him.
According to all the Evangelists, Simon’s confession takes place at a crucial moment in Jesus’ life when, after preaching in Galilee, he resolutely set out for Jerusalem in order to bring his saving mission to completion with his death on the cross…
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