January 18
Saints of the Day...and Events

Peter nailed on a Cross, with the head down

The Confession of Christ by Peter

Memorials of St. Peter:

January 18: Celebration of his Confession of Christ, in Mat.16:16-19
February 22: Chair of St. Peter and Peter the Apostle
29 June (celebration of Saints Peter and Paul co-founders of the Church)
18 November (feast of the dedication of the Basilicas of Peter and Paul)
 

    Memorials of St. Paul

Chair of Saint Peter   The Confession of Peter

The Confession of Peter: ¹⁶Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." (Mat.16:16)

The Promises of Jesus:
¹⁸And 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. ¹⁹I 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."  (Mat.16)

Here Jesus gives Peter four Promises:

    1- You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church
    2- The gates of Hades will not overcome it.
    3- I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven
    4- Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

    Let's start with the last two:

Jesus promises to Peter the Keys of the Kingdom

    "Peter" was chosen by Jesus to be the "leader" of the 12, and of the whole Church of Christ... The 12 Apostles were not chosen by popular election, rather Jesus picked them up. The leader of the 12, Peter, was also picked up by Jesus (Mat..16:19).

    - In Matthew16,  Jesus promised the primacy to Peter
    - In John 21, Jesus gave it to him.
    - In Acts, Peter exercised it.

1- In Matthew 16,  Jesus promised the primacy to Peter:

"I will give you, (Peter), the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven". (Mat..16:19).

Here, Jesus offers Peter, 2 things:

    1- Jesus offers Peter, and only to Peter, the "keys of the kingdom", in front of the other 11 Apostles.
    2- Jesus promises Peter "infallibility"... if whatever he binds or looses on earth, shall be bound or loosed in heaven, it is because whatever he binds or looses it is the truth, "infallible", "without any possibility of error"!.

    And Jesus promised infallibility only to Peter, in this instance, in the presence of the other 11 Apostles... later on, Jesus promised infallibility to the Church, with Peter as the head, of course, in Matt.18:18."I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven"... This promise is being fulfilled now in the Ecumenical Councils, since the first one in Acts 15.

    A friend of mine told me, it is impossible!, because no one is infallible on earth... but then, he agreed with me that when Matthew or Solomon wrote the Bible, they were "infallible", it is the word of God!... so, dozens of people were infallible, when they wrote the Bible!...

   ... And to John, Luke, or David, God did not promised infallibility to write the Bible... but to Peter, Jesus promised directly "infallibility", in whatever he binds or looses on earth!...

   ... The Holy Spirit who inspired the authors of the Bible, is the same one who inspires Peter when he binds or looses on earth!... when he declares a Dogma.

    Is there a Peter, with infallibility in your church?, I finally asked my friend... if there is none, then it is not the Church of Christ!.  

    To Peter was never given a promise of sainthood, but of infallibility... in fact, Peter  was called "Satan" by Jesus after the promise (M.16:23). The same applies to his successors, they are sinners, but infallible when they talk to the Church of Christ exercising their authority.
 

2- In John 21 Jesus gave it to him:

    In his last apparition to the Apostles after resurrection, "Jesus said to Simon Peter... feed "my" lambs... a second time... tend "my" sheep... the third time... feed "my" sheep"...

   The other Apostles were there, but only to Peter Jesus gave the order: Feed and tend my lambs and sheep... "my lamb", "my" sheep!... those of Jesus!.

    Jesus did with Peter what God had done with David:

    Jesus did exactly what God had done in the Old Testament: In Ezekiel 34:15 God says, "I myself shall tend my sheep"... but a few verses later, God says, "I shall raise up one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them; he shall feed them and be their shepherd" (Ez.34:23)...
   ... And so, he who faithful to David, or his successors, belongs to the people of God, and he who is not loyal to David, or his successors, does not belong to the people of God, even if he is a Jew born in Jerusalem... rather, he is a rebel, or a heretic ("heretic" means "rebel")...

    ... Jesus did exactly the same: In John 10, Jesus says, "I am the good shepherd"... but in John 21, Jesus says to Peter 3 times, "feed "my" lambs, tend "my" sheep"... the sheep of Jesus!... so now, like in the Old Testament, he who is loyal to Peter, or his successors, belongs to the Church of Christ... and he who is not loyal to Peter, or his successors, does not belong to the Church of Christ, even if he knows all the Bible by heart, he is a "rebel", a "heretic".

    Jesus compared "his Church" to the "Ark of Noah":
     In his Sermon of the End of Times, Jesus said: "As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man." (Matt.24:37)
    At the times of Noah, there were many good boats, built by experts, much better arks than the one of Noah, but the only boat that did not sink was the boat of Noah, because the only boat of God was the one where Noah was... and at the end of times there will also be many boats, many churches, but the only Church of Jesus Christ is where Peter is, and it is the only us not going to sink... Thank you, Lord, for your unsinkable Church (Matt.16:18).

3- In Acts, Peter exercised its Primacy:

    Peter exercises his "supremacy". He is the one talking, when all the Apostles are present. The first 11 chapters of Acts, report 8 rather long sermons of Peter (1:15, 2:14, 3:12, 4:8, 5:29, 8:20, 10:34, 11:4).

    Another important fact in Acts:

    The first item the Apostles took in the Acts was to name one to do the job Judas was supposed to do, "to take the place in this ministry and apostleship which Judas abandoned... and they choose Matthias, who was added to the 11 apostles" (Act.1:15-26)... you can be sure that when Peter died, the other apostles did the same, they choose one to do the job Peter was supposed to do... the actual Pope John Paul II is the 262 successor of Peter... and the Catholic Church is the only one Church to claim a successor of Peter!.

    Only to Peter Jesus said: "I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may nor fail, and when you are restored, you must strengthen your brothers" (Luk.22:32)... that's what Peter did in the first 11 chapters of Acts... and Peter was a sinner, the only one called "Satan" by Jesus! (Matt.16:23).
 

    The Church of Christ on earth is very divine, but also very human... made up by sinners, like Peter and Paul, and like you and me, imperfect persons, and consequently with many imperfections... but here it comes the promise of Jesus to Peter, the gates of Hades will not overcome it... and every Christian is convinced of this promise!.
    See The Church of Christ

The First Two Promises:

    Matthew 16:18:

    " 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."

    The second promise:
    "And the gates of Hades will not overcome it".

    It is very clear, and all Christians agree and are happy that the devil will never overcome the Church... it is the same promise of Genesis 3:15: The Serpent and its descendents will bruise the heel of the Church, will hurt it in the heel!... a very critical point of the body, will unable it even to walk!... but the Church will always crush the head of the Serpent and its descendents, always will be the victor one, no matter the severity of the problems from without or within the Church itself., praise the Lord!.

    The First Promise:
    "And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church".

    This is also very clear for me, but controversial to some Christians.

    For me, it means what it says: That Jesus is going to build his Church, "my Church", the Church of Jesus, his only one Church!...

    And Jesus states clearly that He is building  His only one Church on Peter!... here Peter is the Rock... of course, Jesus is the only Rock where the Church is founded (1Cor.3:11, 1Pet.2:6), and Jesus is the only Shepherd (Jn.10)... but in John 21 Jesus ordered Peter to shepherd His sheep, the sheep of Jesus!... and His lambs, the lambs of Jesus!... so, the only one Church of Christ on earth is where Peter or his successor is, where Peter or his successor is the shepherd of the lambs and the sheep of Jesus... just as it was commented above that the Ark of Jesus is where Peter is, as the Ark of God was where Noah was at that time... the Ark of Noah is a type of the Church, and Peter, like Noah, are the visible sign to recognize the only one Ark of God or the only one Church of Jesus.

    But here there are controversies: Some claim that Jesus was telling Peter that He will build His Church on the previous statement of Peter, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." of Matt.16:16... This is how Matthew Henry comments it: "Others by this rock understand this confession which Peter made of Christ, and this comes all to one with understanding it of Christ himself."

    Of course, this interpretation is giving mostly by those who do not accept the Pope... and this interpretation is wrong, it is not what Jesus is saying!... He is saying: You are Peter and on this Peter (on you!) I will build my church...  

    Another wrong reason in the Commentary of Matthew Henry: "Thou art Peter, thou hast the name of a stone, but upon this rock, pointing to himself, I will build my church."... Wrong: Jesus was pointing to Peter, not to Himself! (the underline is mine)

    Peter... and Peter:

    In the English translations of the Bible, including the Catholic ones, verse 18 has two words "Peter" and "rock"... though some Bibles make a note saying that "Peter is rock", like the Revised Standard Version... but in the originals there is only one word: "rock" both times, of course, with the usual declination grammar:

You are rock and on this rock I will build my church

    Aramaic Text:
   18. I am also telling you that you are Rock [Peter] and on this rock I am building my Church, and the doors of sheol cannot draw* it in. (Matthew from the original ancient Aramaic text - http://www.v-a.com/bible/matthew.html)

    Greek Text:
    16:18 "kagw de soi legw oti su ei Petros kai epi tauq q petra oikodomhsw mou qn ekklhsian"
    (on http://www.godrules.net/index.html?http://www.godrules.net/main.htm&2)

    Latin Text, The Vulgate (5th   century):
    "et ego dico tibi quia tu es Petrus et super hanc petram"

    English Bibles translate the same root word into two different roots: "Peter" and "rock", even the  Douay Rheim's Version, which is a translation of the Vulgate... may be the name "Rock" in not a common name in English, though now a days, Rocky Marciano is a familiar one!... so, both words should be translated by "rock"... or by "peter", which means "rock" as the Revised Standard Version quotes.

"You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." (Matt.16:16)

   This is the glorious statement of Peter, also a controversial one for many Jews... but the one accepted today by 2 billion Christians... and, of course by many Jews of old, like Peter, and Paul, Virgin Mary, and James... and thanks God by many Jews today. Take a look at  Jews-for-Jesus

    Jesus is the Christ (in Greek), or the Messiah (in Hebrew), or the Anointed One (in English)... Jesus is God, the only one God, with the Father and the Spirit, three persons, but only one God... The Word made flesh, God made man, to bring man to God...

    Jesus is the Messiah promised in 300 prophecies to the People of God, to the Jews, that were fulfilled to the letter in Jesus.

    Take a look at  Judaism  and  300 Prophecies about Jesus

    Yes, Jesus is God, the Messiah... and He is at your side right now,  and if you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, by believing, you may have life in His name.(Jn.20:31)... "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (Jn.3:16).

Quotations from the NIV in The Bible Gateway
 

St. Charles of Sezze, 1613-1670, Giancarlo Marchioni; John Charles Marchioni; Karl von Sezze
    The Franciscan lay brother who wrote mystical books and was an Stigmatist

    http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintc23.htm
    St. Charles of Sezze